


Thor & Loki: The Dark World

by CutePricklyCactus18



Series: God of Beauty AU [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Attempted Kidnapping, Character Death, Everybody loves Loki, F/M, Gen, God of Beauty au, Humor, I noticed it has little to do with this fic, Loki is beautiful, Loki/Malekith but it's one-sided, M/M, Protective Thor (Marvel), Temporary Character Death, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, What-If, Why am I doing this?, after all the fics I wrote I still don't know how to tag, ah shit here we go again, but I put it in the additional tags just in case, but there's also an additional character death, in which Loki is also the god of beauty, lmao I forgot to put that, lmao my writings are cringe don't read them, my boy Thor just want everyone to leave his brother alone, my poor boy is hurt and mourning :(, of course, somebody help him, we all know who it is...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 01:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23003398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CutePricklyCactus18/pseuds/CutePricklyCactus18
Summary: After the Invasion of New York and being away from home for a year, Loki is back, with his family and away from anyone who tries to take him away from home. And then the Dark Elves have to ruin it. Jane Foster has found the Aether and has become its host, and the brothers now have to find a way to stop Malekith, with the addition of preventing the ruler of the Dark Elves from taking Loki and forcing the prince to be his.[THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE]Basically Thor TDW but in which Loki is also the God of Beauty.
Relationships: Frigga | Freyja & Loki & Thor (Marvel), Frigga | Freyja/Odin (Marvel), Jane Foster/Thor, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel)/Everyone, though it's all one sided
Series: God of Beauty AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1283561
Comments: 11
Kudos: 148





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hella unpopular opinion...I actually like TDW, like to me it wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either. Frankly, I don't know why people didn't like the movie but overall if you don't like the movie that's cool too lol. Anyway, my eyes hurt but I'm going to write this anyway haha.  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is literally chapter 1-6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first one was chapter 1-6, so if you read them, don't worry, I didn't change anything, you can skip to the next chapter.

_Long before the birth of light, there was darkness...and from that darkness, came the dark elves. Millennia ago, the most ruthless of their kind, Malekith, sought to transform our universe back into eternal night. Such evil was possible through the power of the Aether—an ancient force of infinite destruction._

"Malekith," Algrim calls out the Dark Elf, speaking to them in their Elven language.

Malekith stands next to him, looking down at the battle then gazes up just in time to see the Bifrost opens, injuring and even killing any Dark Elves that was nearby. Asgardian soldiers came out of the Bifrost, immediately slaying any other nearby elves.

_The noble armies of Asgard, led by my father, King Bor, waged a mighty war against these creatures._

One by one, the Asgardian warriors slaughter each Dark Elves that were in close proximity. Soon more warriors came out of the Bifrost, shooting, and one of them was none other than King Bor himself...

Malekith glares down at them in disgust and annoyance, but he knows that if he doesn't think of something, he will lose the battle.

" _Send the Kursed_ ," he commands in his Elven language to his people.

One lone Dark Elf stands alone, looking at the battle then glances at his hand. There he holds an object with a red light inside, known as the Kursed Stone...and crushes it in his hand, now spreading it throughout his body. And with that, the Dark Elf armor merged with his skin, and he begins to grow in size and more stronger and powerful. He rushes to battle, now slamming and bashing the Asgardian soldiers. Meanwhile, Malekith looks up once more, to see the Convergence, seeing the Nine Worlds slowly come together.

_As the Nine Worlds converged above him, Malekith could, at last, unleash the Aether._

The Dark Elf turns back, the Aether revealing itself to him. The dark matter swirls around inching itself closer to Malekith's hand when all of a sudden, the Bifrost opens once again, stopping him, in which the Dark Elf pulls out his daggers, as more Asgardian warriors came out, ready to attack Malekith. As the warriors rush to him, Malekith throws one his dagger to the middle one, also running towards him and pulling it out from the dead Asgardian, using it once again to stab the next one and also using his other one to slice his throat, pulling both out. The remaining warrior attempted to stab Malekith through his sword but the Dark Elf moved his head just in time, then move under his arm, spins and stabs him in the thigh, making him fall and go on to plunge both daggers in his chest.

Malekith looks up quickly to see the Bifrost still open and runs after it, hoping to still get the Aether, but alas it was too late for him. The Bifrost close, taking the Aether with it, and all Malekith can do is stare up from where it was.

_But Asgard ripped the weapon from his grasp. Without it, the Dark Elves fell._

Soon, the Asgardian warriors were starting to get the upper hand, three of them stabbing the Dark Elf with the Kursed. As he tries to move, the warriors stand their ground and the fourth one jumps up, wraps his arms around the head and with his weight, and the Kursed Elf fell. All around them, as Asgardian soldiers slay, Dark Elves fall, and Malekith did nothing but stare as his people fall until he didn't...

_With the battle all but lost, Malekith sacrificed his own people in a desperate attempt to lay waste to Asgard's army._

Ever ships fell to the battlefield, killing all who was misfortunate to be at the wrong place, destroying everything.

" _Their deaths will mean our survival_ ," Malekith says to Algrim. " _This war is far from over_."

The two of them escape from one of the ships, leaving their people, and escaping, the ship turning invisible. _When the time comes_ , Malekith thought, _Asgard will fall_.

_Malekith was vanquished, and the Aether was no more...or so we were led to believe..._

_"Sire, the Aether," an Asgardian Einherjar spoke. "Shall we destroy it?"_

_"If only we could," King Bor responded, "but its power is too great. Bury it deep...somewhere where no one will ever find it."_

* * *

_"And, and what happens then, Father?" A young (nine Midgardian years to be exact) Thor springs up from his bed, staring at Odin with wide curious eyes._

_A six (Midargian age) year old Loki lays next to him, resting his head against his hand, rolling his eyes at his brother but still smiles fondly at him. They were about to go to sleep when Thor pleads to their father to tell them a story, an attempt to stay up a little late than usual. Nevertheless, Odin, while knowing what his eldest son was doing, obliged and tells the story of his father, their grandfather. Frigga stands not too far, leaning against the doorway, smiling at her boys, tutting at her husband's choice of story because, while she is not against telling stories to her children, she is not fond of the thought of telling them the story of the Dark Elves and the Aether._

_"Had someone found it? Where did they hide it? Will the Dark Elves ever try and find it?"_

_Odin exhales a small laugh, "not if I have anything to do with it."_

_Thor jumps up, grinning ear to ear, "nor will I!" He then thrust his right arm up, almost imitating a warrior raising his weapon to the air. He turns back to Loki. "Do not worry, brother! I will be there to protect you."_

_Loki gave him his beautiful smile, and says, "And I, you, brother."_

And who would have thought it would have happened to them? 

* * *

**Asgard**

Loki takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, focusing. He's kneeling, hands resting on his lap.

"You're doing a great job, Loki," he hears his mother behind her. "Keep focusing."

And keep focusing he did. He can feel her, though very indistinct, very faint but Frúar is still there. She's waiting for him.

"Now, my son. Call to her."

Inhale through his nose, exhale through his mouth, and Loki lifts his arm forward, palm open, almost like he's reaching out for someone.

"Come to me, Frúar..."

At first, there was nothing, but then, Frúar was there, in his hand. Immediately, Loki's eyes snap wide open and his mouth spread into a grin. He quickly turns around to look at his mother.

"It worked again!" He exclaims to her. 

"I'm not surprised, you did very well Loki," Frigga returns him a proud smile of her own.

Approximately twenty times did Loki fail to call her, seven times did he almost succeeded, and twenty-five, now twenty-six, times did he finally succeeded. After... _everything_ that happened after his fall, Frigga wanted to make sure he stays by her side, though not too much, remembering all the mischievous things he's done to get away from all three of them for being overbearing to him as a child. So while she's making sure she's giving him space, he is, under no circumstances, allowed to leave Asgard.

Loki doesn't really mind about that, to be honest. After a year with _him_ and his time on Earth, he is more than willing to stay in Asgard for a while now. Really, if he has to go on some sort of quest, he's going to be very upset. During the one year in falling in space, meeting and staying with Thanos, then being on Earth, he is...what Steve would call, homesick. Not to mention the time during the attack of the Helicarrier, where they took him, he was separated from his scepter. And being (in which Loki could never figure out) connected to one another, connected through some kind of bond, it emotionally hurt the two of them, being away from each other took a toll on the scepter specifically. Frúar can be very overprotective for her scepter holder, considering he's the God of Beauty and everyone who even glances at him wants to take him away from the whole universe. Loki promised her during the battle that once they go home, he will make sure no one will ever separate them.

Cue to the now, where Loki talked to his mother, asking if there were ways he can summon Frúar or be enchanted or something that will be impossible to be separated and she tells him there are ways. One of many ways for summoning and the one Frigga is teaching him was one of the best, where if Loki happened to lose his scepter, all he needs is to directly say "come to me" with the addition of their name, and they will be summoned, easier said than done (the only downfall is that if, Heaven forbids, one falls the other will feel it and will forever feel the emptiness of their other half). The person must have some sort of link, a _bond_ , to the item, which possibly made it a little easier for Loki, but they need to extremely focus on the said link, strengthing it in a sense to make it enchanted enough to be summoned ( _"Think of it as two souls becoming one, someone will even call it soulmates," Frigga explains to him in which he replies with: "That is an odd way to call it."_ ), which can be tremendously overwhelming to the person.

Loki won't lie, he did have severe headaches the first three (eight but he will _never_ admit it) tries but after the fourth time he did, it became a little better. Then, once the person believes their links have been strengthened, they can try and summon them to them, which is the most painful part, mainly because it is very easy for the connection to reject the summon, hurting the both of them, and believe him, throughout the twenty times Loki failed, it was the most _painful_ experience Loki will ever undergo. Honestly, Loki is glad he's not telling Thor about this because he will not let him do this.

_Finally_ , Loki was able to successfully summon Frúar but it _did_ strain the prince. And his mother tells him to do it again and _again_ until the feeling of summoning the scepter is normal and not torturing him. It wasn't always hard. During the time, Frúar had been nothing but encouraging, sending affection and hope throughout all of it, despite that she too felt the pain as well.

Frigga smiles at her boy, proud of him. She was a bit hesitant to show him this, knowing it will be painful for him but she knows more than anyone besides Thor that Loki and Frúar have a strong relation to one another, a love and friendship that will never break no matter what. She knows Loki trusts and cares for his scepter friend, especially since she was the true first friend who couldn't care less about Loki's beauty, who he can rely on aside from family. So, that's why she shows him the enchantment spell, for Loki to never be alone or be away from his first friend.

She rests a hand on her son's shoulder, "I believe that is enough, Loki. I'm very proud of you, I know it was hard for you but I also know you would have managed it."

"Thank you, Mother."

"Loki."

The two turn to the familiar voice, revealing it to be Odin.

"Hello, Father," Loki greets, "Mother has been teaching me how to summon Frúar and I've finally am able to do it."

Odin smiles, do doubt pride can be seen on his face.

"I wouldn't have questioned it, with your mother's great teaching and your fast learning."

"Thank you, Father. Is there something you need?"

"Yes...I wished to talk to you about...what you've experienced."

Ah. _That_ talk.

"Shall I leave you two be?" Frigga presses her palm together nervously.

"If you wish," Loki says before his father can, smiling at her as he gets up. But she seems to know and with a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, she leaves them alone.

Odin clears his throat. "We've...never talked about your time during Midgard and the Titan."

Loki sighs, "no, no we haven't." Beside him, he can feel Frúar comforting him. "You needn't be concerned about me, you needn't be worried. I am here, after all." He lets out a huff. "I really don't see what all the fuss is about."

"Do you truly not feel the gravity of what you've been through?" He questions still. "Wherever you go, there is war, ruin, and death, all because you are the God of Beauty."

As much as it sounded like an insult, his father wasn't insinuating it was his fault, quite the opposite actually since it is true. People were willing to start wars if it meant they can have him, cause ruins to be even near him, and even kill just to be with him. Hell, that's what even led him to his fall, when he, Thor, and the others went to Jotunheim... _"War and death"_ was what Laufey ( _his_ father) told the Allfather.

Loki sighs once again before speaking. "The Mad Titan wouldn't want anyone, not even his henchmen to _touch_ me except for only him, he believed I was a jewel of some sort. He entrusted me to go down to Midgard to rule the people of Earth as a _benevolent_ god—" The beautiful prince shakes his head at that. "—just like you."

"We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do."

"Give or take 5000 years." He smiles at him, shrugging.

"All this because he believes Loki desires a throne."

The prince nods, "after I told tiny truths and many lies about my life, he said it was my birthright." He pauses, remembering something they haven't truly talked about before the fall. "But it isn't my _birthright_ , now is it?"

"Your birthright was..." Odin falters, almost like he didn't want to say it.

"To die," he helps him.

"...as a child. Cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in..."

"I know," he bows moderately at him, "and I _am_ grateful you did, Father. As I said, you needn't be concerned about me, I'm not bothered by it."

It was a _big_ lie but the Allfather doesn't need to know about it. In fact, it bothered him a lot. Like, a _lot_. He's still get enraged over the fact they hidden it from him, be _livid_ that everything was a lie, but most of all...felt betrayed; he's hurt. And no one can blame him, _no one_. He has every right to feel what he's feeling. Should it bother him? Should he let it bother him? Maybe not. Call it his weakness.

Before his lie can be seen, Loki changes the subject.

"And what of Thor? You'll make him king now?"

"Thor must strife to undo the damage that has been done. He will bring order to the nine realms and then, yes. He will be king." 

* * *

**Vanaheim**

Chaos. It was absolute chaos. Riding her horse to battle, Sif maneuvers her body back as the marauder soldier swings his sword at her, barely missing it, and jump off the horse, turning to the said soldier. The marauder swings at her again but she moves back, moving her shield when he tried again and Sif swings it back, slamming the shield right at the enemy's head. Meanwhile, Volstagg slams his battle axe at another marauder's head. He turns and raises his weapon just in time to block another enemy's weapon. With the weight of their weapons against each other, Volstagg threw him to another marauder, making the two to fall back.

More marauder soldiers coming to the battle, raising their cannon, shooting at any Vanir who was running from the battle. Once she cut down a soldier, she turns to her right, seeing a marauder raising his weapon to her, ready to shoot when the Bifrost opened right then and there. Sif raised her shield, no doubt knowing everyone around her might have flown back from the impact of it.

Then, out from the Bifrost, Mjolnir flew right near her, slamming against an enemy. The hammer then twists itself and flew back to the Bifrost, going back to his owner, The God of Thunder; Thor. Thor looks around the battle when two marauders rush at him. He runs up, using the two of them to climb up and slams Mjolnir on the ground, striking the enemies around him.

"I got this _completely_ under control!" Sif exclaims, a little annoyed.

"Is that why everything is on fire?" Thor raised his eyebrow at her before grinning.

His grin didn't last long when two more marauders tackle him from behind. The battle kept going, enemies and allies strike and falls, the two other Warriors Three fighting as well, Fandral slashing his sword at any marauders around him, slashing one on the leg and knocking two more coming to his way, while Hogun uses his mace to block a hit from one and spins around to kick at the second one before they can strike him. Hogun turns back once again, blocking once more before he bashed his weapon down at the enemy and proceed to punch a marauder coming his way.

One landed a hit on Fandral but shakes it off, kicking one of them, and dodges in time when another one tries to shoot at him, landing hits the other and strike the gunner back twice before he falls. Sif, the Warrior Three, and Thor all but fight, giving their all. Sif sees someone aiming to shoot at Thor but raised her shield, catching it.

"You're welcome."

As they continue fighting, a loud roar stops everyone. Thor looks around for the source, only to see a Kronan approaching the battle, many soldiers staggering away for him. Thor sighs, a little annoyed as he sees one Aesir tries to fight the Kronan but was immediately stopped when the rock-like humanoid swing his weapon at him, making him fly off, earning a cheer from the marauders.

Sif glances at Thor before saying, "All yours."

The prince quietly scoffs, looking around as the Kronan makes his way, the marauders chanting his name. Thor was not worried at all, walking towards him as well. Truth to be told, he just wants to get this over with, really want nothing but to go home to his brother. He wasn't fazed when the rock humanoid slams his weapon on the ground and roared, a little bored out of his mind.

"Hello," he says. His response was another roar. "I accept your surrender."

That earn laughter from all of the marauders. Thor all but smiles and begins to swing Mjolnir and with one hit, the Kronan was down, body shattering into tiny rocks. And now...none of them were laughing.

"Anyone else?"

All the marauders' response were dropping their weapons and kneeling. Sif and the Warriors Three all but look around, a little surprised, and Fandral turns back to Thor. 

"Perhaps next time we should start with the big one."

After that, the Aesir soldiers begin to move all of the marauders. The Vanirs were picking up a few of their belongings that were left from the battle, Hogun walks around, checking in on his people, see if they need any help, smiling as he sees two kids running off, laughing despite the mess around them. Thor catches up to him. 

"Where do we go next?" He asks the prince.

"Hogun, the peace is nearly one across the Nine Realms," Thor replies, turning to him. "You should stay here, be with your people, where your heart is. Asgard can wait."

The Vanir smiles, actually feeling relief when he heard his response. "You have my thanks."

"As you have mine." Once the two grab the other's forearms and bid farewell, Thor looks up, "Heimdall, when you're ready."

The Bifrost opens, sending him to his home, Asgard. 

Odin lifts his arm up, allowing a bird to rest, the new Asgardian soldiers training beneath him. Thor made his way to his father as the bird flew off and the two look down at the new soldiers.

"Is Vanaheim secure?"

"As are Nornheim and Ria. Though, our work would have gone more quickly with you at the fore."

"You must think I'm a piece of bread that needs to be buttered so heavily."

Thor exhales a laugh, "that was not my intent."

Odin looks at the sky. "For the first time since the Bifrost was destroyed, the Nine Realms are at peace. They're well reminded of our strength and you have earned their respect and my gratitude."

"Thank you."

"Nothing out of order except your...confused and distracted heart," the Allfather glances at his elder son.

Thor was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "This isn't about Jane Foster, Father."

"Human lives are fleeting, they are nothing. You'd be better served by what lies in front of you," Thor looks to where his father was staring, seeing Sif easily taking down a soldier. Almost as if she felt it, she looks up to lock eyes at him. "I'm telling you this not as the Allfather but as your father. You are ready. The time has come for you to take the throne—"

Thor falters as he hears his father, feeling...all kinds of emotion.

"—Embrace and celebrate what you've won. Join your warriors. Eat and drink, revel in their celebration. At least pretend to enjoy yourself."

After washing up, Thor prepares himself for another party, surely knowing he won't enjoy it but he went anyway for his father's sake. He sits around his friends, their waves of laughter sounding far away as something, or rather someone, was on his mind. He looks up at his people who he is supposed to king for. He only stays silent as Volstagg finishes his drink and tosses behind him, yelling "another!" as the people around him, cheers and laughs. When he finishes his drink, he nearly made an attempt to do the same but left it alone, and decides to get up instead, not even feeling Fandral's pat. Everyone else around him is enjoying themselves while he is...not.

"There was a time where when you celebrated for weeks," Sif tells him as he made his way towards the balcony she's currently at.

"I remembered you celebrated the battle of Haragon, so much that you nearly the second."

"Well, the first was so much fun."

They smile at each other, staying in comfortable silence. Thor breaks eye contact, looking down at the balcony, at nothing in particular. Yet, Sif still looks at him, seeing right through him.

"Take a drink with me," she tells him. "Surely, the Allfather could have no further task for you tonight."

"No, this is one I set myself."

"It has not gone unnoticed that you disappear each night...There are Nine Realms. Future king of Asgard must focus on more than one."

Thor stills at that, then looks down, smiling before looking up at her. He opens and closes his mouth, trying to find the right response. And he found it.

"I thank you for your sword and counsel, good Lady Sif."

And with that, Thor walks off, heading to his chamber. He was so unfocused on everything, he didn't even notice a random Asgardian lady walking right next to him, her hand picking the palm of the other hand.

"Well, that went perfect," she says casually, looking around.

Thor jumps a bit, gazing at her who's not meeting his. It didn't take him that long to know who it really was.

He grins down, offering his right arm to her, like a gentleman. She says nothing as they continue walking, arm in arm.

"Now I know why you despise these parties," he speaks nonchalantly and he leans closer to her, " _Brother_."

That led to the prince in disguise smile.

"Oh, but I believe our reasons are very different. For me, I want everyone to leave me alone." Once they turn to a hall where it's just the two of them, he transforms back to himself, unwrapping his arm. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing is...wrong, really."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him, waiting, determined.

"...okay, maybe I feel, I don't know, something."

"You really don't know?"

"Uh, no?"

"...you miss her."

"...I do," Thor sighs. "How do you always know what's wrong?"

"I'm your brother, I can see past through your walls. Plus, I'm _more_ observant than all of them."

"Well, enough of that, have you done anything _other_ than staying in your chambers?"

Loki smiles and lifts his arm up.

"Look what Mother taught me." 

* * *

Loki and Thor were spending time together, and they cherished it in seconds. With Thor trying to restore peace throughout the Realms and Loki not allowed to leave Asgard, the two were hardly together now, unlike before when Loki was always by his side. Now, with Vanaheim secured, Loki finally succeeded with his lesson with their mother and Thor being home, the brothers were finally able to talk to one another without any issues to stop them.

Honestly, the two can go hours of talking about everything and nothing. Sometimes, it can be humorous things, like stories of Loki's tricks and other times, they talk about significant things, such as what Thor has done during the time when Loki fell and what Loki has done when he fell. Occasionally, they talked about Thor and his time on Earth, more importantly, his time with Jane.

"She sounds like someone I would like," Loki says, craning his neck to stare at the ceiling. "Do you ever want to see her again?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you?"

"I," Thor falters. "I need to finish restoring peace through the Nine Realms."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him, not believing one bit on his response.

"You're nervous about seeing her again, aren't you?"

Thor sags his shoulders. "Yes."

"But why? If anything, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you as well."

"I'm not so sure about that, brother," Thor sighs. "Would you like to meet her one day?"

Now it was Loki's turn to falter. Thor notices it.

"I, I do. I really do but..."

"But what?"

"I, don't...I don't quite want to meet her face to face."

Thor laughs. "Wh, why not? I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

Loki looks at him with a blank expression before raising his hand, palm open, right under his face, as if this gives him the answer.

"...oh."

"Yeah... _oh_ ," Loki huffs. "She's important to you, and, and the thought that _I_ might ruin it by showing my face around her—"

"You won't ruin it, Loki."

Loki scoffs. "Remember all the maidens who were with you _just_ so they can be near me?"

"Jane's different, though. Maybe she'll be shocked by your beauty and all but I know her," he smiles, almost like remembering something that happened to the two of them. "I know she wouldn't do that."

"I...really hope so," Loki looks up at the ceiling once again. "Wonder what's going on in her life." 

"Heimdall only knows." 

"Then why don't we go and ask him?" 

* * *

Jane Foster gasps as she feels a gush of wind pushes her toward, into a dark, cold place, with no one around her.

"Darcy!" she shouts out, hoping she'll get a response.

No. No, _no_ , this can't be happening, not to her! All she wanted was to go on a date with one guy to move on from _him_ then Darcy _has_ to come and tell her about some readings, apparently her intern has an intern, then she found out something incredible from children playing with some kind of phase portal, and _now_ she's alone in this dark cold place. She looks around. Maybe she'll find a way to escape from here and back to Darcy.

Jane cautiously made her way further to where she is. Then, something caught her attention, something bright red. Maybe she shouldn't, but she made her way towards it. It was between two boulders and it seems to be moving around. Jane ducks her head down to see what it was, walking around it. It looks to be some sort of slime-like... _thing_. She doesn't really know how to describe it. It's moving and swirling around. She doesn't know why, but she reaches her hand to it. At first, nothing happened, as if the thing didn't even notice her.

All of a sudden, it latched on to her hand, trying to pull her in. She struggles then finally was she able to pull her arm away from it. At least she thinks she did. It happened too fast for her to know what's really going on. Before she can see what the thing will do, the boulder close in on it.

Jane sighs in relief before she felt something off about her left arm, almost as if the thing is around it. She touches her arm, hoping to shake off whatever's left of that thing. _God, what was that?_ She rubs her hand when all of a sudden, she starts to feel a little lightheaded and her vision blackens

Meanwhile, somewhere, Malekith awakes, along with others, declaring: "The Aether awakens us. The Convergence returns." 

* * *

The two brothers made his way to Heimdall, no sound coming from them, aside from their footsteps.

"You're late," they hear Heimdall.

"Merriment can sometimes be a heavier burden than battle."

"Then you're doing one of them incorrectly.

Thor chuckles while Loki smiles, as he greets Heimdall.

"Perhaps," the elder prince retorts. "How fare the stars?"

"Still shining. From here I can see Nine Realms and ten trillion souls."

Heimdall turns to the two princes before lifting his sword and resting it once again at its place.

"You recall what I told the two you of the Convergence?"

"Yes, the alignment of the worlds. It approaches, doesn't it?"

"The universe hasn't seen this marvel since before my watch began. Few can sense, even fewer can see it," Heimdall states. "A world that's infected can be dangerous. It is truly beautiful."

"I do not doubt it," Loki says, looking up stars.

Thor squints, "I see nothing."

"Or perhaps that is not the beauty you seek," he looks at the brothers with a knowing expression.

Loki pursed his lips, smiling at Thor while he and Heimdall begin to laugh.

"How is she, Heimdall?" Loki asks. "Can you please tell us what she's doing?"

"She's quite clever, your mortal," he first says, glancing at Thor before continuing, turning to the stars. "She doesn't know it yet, but she studies the Convergence as well. Even..."

Heimdall stopped talking, his shoulder slightly tensed. Thor and Loki looked at one another, no doubt suddenly feeling dread in their bones right away. Something isn't right.

"Heimdall?" Loki spoke. "Are you alright?"

"What?"

He stayed quiet. And then, "I can't see her."

The two brothers once again quickly looked at each other once again, and the eldest can see it in Loki's nervous yet determined eyes.

"Find her."

All this happening while Jane is being infected by the Aether. 

* * *

Jane wakes up, lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, ignoring that the empty can she threw finally returned, landing feet away from her. At first, she can't remember why she was here, but then it all came to her. The portal, the red...liquid thing, and suddenly, she sits up straight so fast it made her lightheaded but she ignored it as she ran out of the factory. When she was finally out, she spots Darcy...along with the police.

"Jane! Where the hell were you?"

"Tell me you didn't call the police!" she replied instead.

"What was I suppose to do?"

" _Not_ call the police!"

"I was freaking out!"

"You call the cops, they call the feds," Jane says, annoyance rising up within her. "The next thing you know we have SHIELD crawling all over area fifty-one-ing the place—"

"Jane—"

"We had a stable gratification anomaly, we had unheeded access. Our only competition was _ten years old_!"

" _Jane_ ," Darcy says a little harder to grab her attention, "you were gone for _five hours_."

Jane falters at that, shocked to hear what she just said. "...what?"

And that's when she sees it. Rain. It wasn't raining at all when she came out. It was raining hard that she should be soaked by now. That's the other thing she noticed as well. The rain is not hitting them, and as Jane pulls out her hand out to touch the water, it expanded a little farther.

"That's weird."

Then, she spots him, stepping back in disbelief. Darcy follows her stare and sees him as well. _Him_. Thor, the God of Thunder, and the man who left her. It felt like the air in her lungs was stolen as the two stared at one another, one waiting patiently for her and the other in disbelief. At first, no one moved, then Jane gives Darcy their device before walking her way to the god. As Darcy stayed behind, the circle that kept them dry dissipated, the hard rain hitting her, getting her drenched.

"Typical..."

As Jane makes her way to Thor, the prince relaxed his shoulders. The whole time he was tensed, worried that Jane wouldn't come to him and rather walked away. Ever since he left Asgard, that was what he was feeling; worried. Worried about what happened to her, where she was, if she was fine in _general_. But she's here, Jane is right here, walking up to him. She reaches up to him.

"Jane... I—"

And slaps him.

"S, sorry. I just needed to make sure you were real, it's been a very strange day," she explains to him.

"Well, I am. Jane—"

She slaps him again and this time, Thor wasn't surprised.

"Where were you?!"

"Where were _you_? Heimdall could not see you," he retorts back.

"I was right here where you left me," she starts. "I was waiting and then I was crying and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back."

"I know, I know, but the Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos, wars were raging, marauding hordes were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter."

"...as excuses go, that's not terrible. But I saw you on TV, you were...you were in _New York_!"

"Jane, I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world, but...I was wrong, I was a _fool_ ," Thor places his hand on Jane's face so gently in which she leans against it. "I believe that fate brought us together...Jane, I don't know where you were or what happened, but I do know this..."

"...what?" She said softly, no longer feeling mad towards him.

"I know..." Thor was struggling, they can tell.

"...you do?"

"Do what?"

"What?"

God, it's been _so_ long. So, _so_ long. The two begin to lean closer, ready to—

"Hey!"

Damn it. They were interrupted as Darcy approaches them, putting her coat above her head.

"Is this you?"

Thor looks up and immediately made the rain stop.

"Uh...we're kind of in the middle of something."

"Um...I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested."

Right. Darcy called the police. "Hold that thought," she tells Thor as she runs towards the police.

"Look at you, still all muscly and everything," Darcy says, tapping at his armor. "How's space?"

"Excuse me," said Jane once she gets to the police.

"Are you Jane Foster?"

"Yes."

"Do you know this man."

She glances at where Ian is being patted down by a police officer. "He's my intern... My intern's intern."

"This is private property and you're trespassing, the lot of you," he tells her, raising his hand to grab her arm. "You'll have to come with me."

As he grabs her arm, a force within her pushes him along with anyone near them, be it cars or police officers, away, sending them back and falling to the ground. Thor moves his body to cover Darcy as he looks at what he just witnessed before running to her, calling out her name, who was on the ground.

"Jane."

"Thor?"

"Are you alright?"

"What just happened?"

Another police officer approaches Jane with alarm and a little agitated. "Place your hands on your heads. Step back."

"This woman is unwell."

"She's dangerous."

Thor rests his hand on her shoulder gently but turns to the officer with a displeased and irked expression. "So am _I_." He ignores him as he calls on his radio. "Hold on to me."

"What are you doing?"

Thor didn't say anything but looks up to the sky when the Bifrost opens and the two of them go, leaving everyone in shocked. Heimdall waited for them as a piece of car flown passes him, barely missing him as they came in. Jane looks around the new area, a smile on her face.

"We have to do that again," then she notices Heimdall. "Hi."

"Welcome to Asgard." 

* * *

Loki is excited and nervous at the same time. Right now, he disguised himself as one of the assistance as the Asgardian physicians and nurses are checking Jane and whatever is within her. He always wanted to meet her, he's _been_ wanting to meet her since the moment Thor talked about her. But he doesn't want her to meet _him_. It's not that he thinks she wouldn't like him but more for the sake that she might fall for him and that is something he doesn't want, not when it's Thor's love.

Loki glances at him, looking intently at her while the others are checking her. He has a worried look on his face and yet his eyes also have a fondness in them. Ever since Thor and he returned home, and while he was happy that the younger is back, he was...not himself. It was like he was missing something and Loki can now confirm it was Jane he was missing. So, the idea of Loki taking Jane from him makes him sick to his stomach. So, for now, he'll just be in the background and wait until he believes it will be a good time to reveal himself, and really, he doesn't mind at all.

"What's that?" Jane asks as she tries to touch the Soul Forge.

"Be still," Eir, the most talented physicians out of all the maidens, tutted, continuing to see the issue.

Loki glances up once more at Thor as he stands with another nurse beside him before looking back down at Jane.

"This is not of Earth, what is it?"

"We do not know," the nurse replies, "but she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her."

She walks off and both the brothers felt on edge with what she said. Thor turns back to Jane with an anxious expression and Loki doesn't even blame him. As much as he wants to comfort him, Loki stays right where he is, pretending to check on some notes but occasionally checking on Jane.

"That's a quantum field generator, isn't it?" Jane asks Eir.

"It's a Soul Forge," she answers.

"Does a Soul Forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?"

Eir looks down at her, very impressed on what the mortal just said. "Yes."

Jane smiles and turns her head to Thor and whispers, "it's a quantum field generator."

Thor smiles back at her and Loki couldn't stop his forming on his lips, as he now pays attention to the two of them. Yeah...Jane is the one Thor was missing.

"My words are mere noises to you that you ignore them completely?" A familiar voice interrupts them, and Loki once again is on edge and within his emotion, he can feel Frúar suddenly feeling anxious.

He looks back to see his father, walking into the infirmary.

"She's ill," Thor defended.

"She is _mortal_ —" By now, the others walked off, knowing they need to be alone yet he stayed nonetheless. "Illness is their defining trait." Loki clutches at the notes he was holding.

"I brought here because we can help her."

"She does not belong _here_ in Asgard anymore than a goat belongs at a banquet table."

His eyes narrowed at that, feeling offended _for_ her. Didn't he tell him they were not gods, that they die just as _humans_ do? From the corner of his eye, he can see Jane stand up, no doubt feeling offended.

"Did he just..?" She looks at Thor for help but he just looks just as annoyed as her and Loki. She whips around to face Odin. "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Odin. King of Asgard. Protector of the Nine Realms."

Now, with that Loki looks at the notes as if he didn't just read it for the last six hundred and ten times already, as if it was interesting.

"...oh. Well, I'm—"

"I know very well who you are, Jane Foster."

"You told your Dad about me?"

"Something is within her, Father, something I have not seen before," Thor tries again.

"Her world has its healers, they're called _doctors_ , let them deal with it," their father ended the discussion. "Guards, take her back to Midgard."

As two guards make their way towards Jane, Loki senses Frúar warning him about...something, and all of sudden he feels it too, making his shoulders tense up.

"No, I-I would not—"

Thor tries to warn but the moment the guard touched her, some energy force with a color red exploded out as the guards flew off and everyone near her including Thor and Loki raises his arms in front of his head as he makes his own force field just in time too, though he was also pushed back a little, making him almost falter.

"—touch her."

"Wha..." Loki involuntarily spoke softly, breathlessly.

And at that moment, Thor glances at him for about two seconds and Loki can already tell he found out before approaching Jane.

"Jane, are you alright?"

She nods as Odin walks towards her as well, resting his hand in the air just above her arm, examining the energy force running through it, visibly seeing it moving around, and Odin stills for a second, and the brothers can tell something is bothering him, as they share a look.

"That's impossible."

"The infection, it's..." Eir spoke, "defending her."

"No," Thor jumps in. "It's defending itself."

Jane looks at Thor then turns to Odin as he says, "Come with me." 

* * *

"There are relics that predate the universe itself. What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk."

Loki followed them, now invisible as his father takes them to a room he once showed him and Thor when they were younger. Right above them, there are the other realms, each colorful in their own way. The Allfather opened a book that seemed familiar as well.

"But before that dawn, the dark forces, the Dark _Elves_ , reigned absolute and unchallenged."

"' Born of eternal night, the Dark Elves comes to steal away the light.' I knew these stories, mother told them to us as children," Thor comments.

That's right. After Odin told the story of their grandfather and his many battles, the two asked their mothers about the Dark Elves, in which she would read it to them.

"Their leader, Malekith made a weapon out of that darkness, it was called the Aether. While the other relics often appeared as stones, the Aether is _fluid_ and _ever-changing_. It changes matter into _dark_ matter and seeks out to host bodies, drawing strength from their life force.

"Malekith sought to use the Aether's power to return the universe to one of darkness. But after eternities of bloodshed, my father Bor, finally triumphed, ushering in the peace that lasted thousands of years."

"What happened?" Jane asks.

"He killed them all."

"Are you certain? The Aether was said to have been destroyed with them and yet _here_ it is."

Odin looks at his eldest one. "The Dark Elves are _dead_."

"Does your book happen to mention how to get it out of me?"

"No, it does not," he finally answers, closing the book and walking off.

At first, they were silent. No one spoke, but then...

"Loki, I know you're there. Why not introduce yourself to Jane properly."

Damn. 

* * *

"So...you're Thor's brother, Loki. He told me a lot about you..how you're the god of mischief and beauty," Jane smiles, holding her hand out.

Loki shakes it elegantly.

"Yes, I am. And you're Jane, Thor told me a lot about you as well. Like, how much he longed to see you but was also nervous to reunite with you again."

Thor raised an eyebrow at Loki's direction.

Well, more specifically on the invisible head while his body is visible. When Thor tells him to show himself to Jane, he did. He didn't say anything about showing his face though. So, right now, Jane is just looking at a headless Loki.

"Well, it's really nice to finally meet the one and only Loki face to face," she tells him.

"And I, you."

"Not sure if I would call it 'face to face', Brother."

And while they can't see Loki's face, Thor can tell Loki turned his head to look at him with a stoic look. Finally, he relents, waving around his fingers to finally show his face to Jane. This might as well be a test to see if she's not like the other maidens who were purposely using Thor to get to him. Loki slightly narrowed his eyes as hers widen and her faces redden. Here it comes...

"..."

"..."

"...wow, Thor was right," she starts, "you really are beautiful." She smiles at him, glancing at Thor, "I guess now we can call it 'face to face', huh?"

Loki softens his expression, looking at her. Then, straightening himself, finally giving her a genuine smile before turning to Thor, "you're right. She is different."

"I told you."

Jane darts back and forth between them.

"Am I missing something?"

"My brother was worried you might fall for him the moment you see his face."

She laughs, "no way, I mean— Don't get wrong, you really are good looking and all, like no wonder you're the god of beauty and um, I can understand people will be _infatuated_ and all—"

The brothers gaze at her.

Jane hurries quickly, "but I will never toss Thor away for you...no offense. Who would do that?"

Loki smiles, "many people. Many, many people." He changes the subject. "Anyway, Thor told me you two met by him getting hit by your vehicle? Please, tell me more."

"Loki," Thor exclaims, a little embarrassed.

"Oh, I would _love_ to tell you that!"

"Jane..."

It felt like the two of them didn't even hear him, Jane telling Loki about what she was doing and her research, out in the desert where a strange "weather occurrence" happened when it was actually Thor being banished, and she ended up hitting Thor with her van. Loki proceeds to ask her about her research and she gladly tells him, the two becoming really into the conversation, Jane's expression getting brighter every minute while Loki listens and occasionally asks questions. Despite the small embarrassment, Thor smiles, walking a little behind them, feeling content the two of them finally meeting and talking.

Thor always wanted this the moment he was getting more closer to Jane and when reuniting with Loki on Earth, he knew the two would get along very quickly, becoming close friends. It's a good thing for both Loki and Thor, for Thor wanting his brother and Jane to be close as they are one of many people he cares about, and for Loki to finally have someone who doesn't view him as a trophy aside from him, Frúar, and their parents.

Sure, Sif and the others (Fandral learns the hard way when he kissed Loki on the cheek) haven't tried anything or pursue his brother but that doesn't mean he doesn't see it in their eyes. He can't also blame them (maybe a _little_ when it comes to Fandral...), Loki _is_ the god of beauty, after all, but people mistaken infatuation with love, not that he's blaming Loki either, his brother never asked to be this way and he definitely has the right to be upset with having this constant issue to the point he's willing to hide his face because he's afraid Jane would fall for him.

He's also thankful for their friends on Earth as well. While Thor knows they're besotted with him, with his beauty, they also see pass that, seeing Loki as also a _person_ , not an object. He recalls a time where he found Loki crying in his room—

Thor's mind was interrupted as Loki and Jane start laughing at something his brother said. Thor smiles at the scene. It's true, he's very happy for the three of them. 

* * *

Loki feels Frúar, pausing his conversation. Smiling, he lifts his hand calling out to her, Jane watching him confusingly when his scepter shows up in his hand.

"I like you to meet my scepter, Frúar."

Frúar's fiery green orb brightens when seeing Jane, who notices it.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful."

"She."

"She's...a living thing?"

"You can say that. We share emotions telepathically, which helps us be more connected, very helpful in battle."

"Cool! Can Thor's hammer do the same thing?"

"No."

Jane smiles, "well, it's really nice to meet you, Frúar..? Sorry if I butchered your name."

Loki senses his scepter's emotion for a second, then pulls his arm a little forward to Jane, who gladly held the scepter. Jane isn't on the floor from Frúar's weight.

"She likes you and trusts you," Loki smiles, "Frúar has this spell where no one can lift her unless she trusts the person. There are hardly any people she trusts."

Jane's eyebrows raised in surprise, before looking down at the scepter, giving her another smile. "I'm very thankful that you trust me, and I like you too."

Loki can feel Frúar getting happy and overjoyed before reminding Loki about something.

"Well, it was really nice to have finally met you, Jane Foster, but we have to go now."

"Go?" Thor asks.

"Volstagg and Fandral informed me about the prisoners acting mad, so I'll be making my way to 'soothe' them."

Right, soothe.

"Hopefully, we'll see each other later, we must be going, now," Loki falters before resting a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "I emphasize your stress about this, but disregard what our father said. We'll find a way to help you. Thor and I will do whatever it takes."

Jane smiles, "thank you, Loki, really."

"Until then." With that, Loki turns and become fully invisible, leaving the two of them.

Loki can't believe it, he finally had the chance to meet Jane! Thor was right, not only did she not felt love-struck by his beauty, but the two has really got along. It's a refreshing thing, having a friend to talk to. He glances back as the two of them begin to walk in a different direction and smile. Loki feels Frúar getting all jovial.

"I like her too, Frúar." 

It wasn't long for Loki to head to the Asgardian dungeon, helping Volstagg and Fandral with the prisoners, immediately getting their attention and making them stop getting violent and aggressive, along with ignoring Fandral's attempt with wooing him. Looking around, the beautiful prince instantly stops in his tracks as he spots a prisoner among prisoners. He was taller than the others, wearing a dark red-brown armor with an almost matching mask covering his face, and his piercing icy blue eyes are staring right at him. Chills suddenly run down on Loki's spine, feeling overwhelmed and...uneasy as he stares back at him, Frúar getting a little agitated and anxious, already sensing the danger.

Loki can already see it in the prisoner's eyes; obsession and desire.

"Loki?" Fandral pulls him out of his thoughts, finally breaking eye contact.

"Yes?"

"Are you well?"

Loki blinks, glancing back at the prisoner before answering, "yes. I'm coming."

With that, Loki follows them, feeling the prisoner's eyes on him as he kept on walking. 

* * *

"When you came for me," Jane says as the two walks around Asgard, "you knew I was in trouble."

"Heimdall had lost sight of you; you were no longer on Earth."

"Well, how's that possible?"

"I believe you were in between worlds," Thor answers, the two stop by a ledge looking upon the water. "The Nine Realms travel within Yggdrasil, orbiting Midgard in much the way your planet orbits the sun." Thor takes Jane's hand, pressing their palms open each finger spread from one another. "And every five thousand years the worlds align perfectly, we call this the Convergence.

"During this time the boarders between worlds become blurred. It's possible you found one of these points," he continues as they look at one another. "We are lucky that it remained open. Once the worlds pass out of alignment, the connection is lost," Thor turns his hand to the side while still pressing against her palm as he finishes.

Jane continues to stare as she closes her fingers and the two are properly holding hands now, not breaking eye contact. What felt like forever, Thor leans in, kissing Jane who reciprocates. This feels right. Everything about this feels _right_. It's been too long for the two, it felt like an eternity since the last time they kiss, the last time they saw each other, the longing and yearning for them to be reunited once again. And they have, but this is not what the two of them wanted, with Jane having the Aether and the possibility of the Dark Elves out there. But they'll worry about it later, right now, it's just them, Thor and Jane.

Jane pulls back, smiling, "I like the way you explain things."

Thor huffs out a laugh. Jane then furrows her eyebrows.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"I'll find a way to save you, Jane."

"Your father said there was—"

"My father doesn't know _everything_."

"Don't let him hear you say that."

The two turn their heads to the voice. Frigga smiles as she approaches them.

"Jane Foster," Thor gently pulls her towards her, "please meet Frigga. Queen of Asgard, and my mother."

Jane hastily moves back from Thor, drawing her hands back, getting a little embarrassed.

"Hi." 

* * *

As Volstagg, Fandral, and Loki just about finishing putting the prisoners in the cell, the latter is casually twirling Frúar around his hand as the four begin to walk back. All the while not even noticing the prisoner with the mask, who is in fact, Algrim the Strong, Malekith's lieutenant. No one notices Algrim pulling out something, something that was known as the Kursed Stone, from his wounded stomach, who Malekith gave. Quickly, he crushes it.

There, he transforms as the Kursed. Instantly, his body begins to spazz as he lets the power course through his body. One of the prisoners in his cell took notice before smashing the magical barrier, the others following along. 

Loki stops twirling Frúar, hearing the shouting far behind him, and stops in his tracks once again. There, he notices on the cell's light near him starts to flicker. Volstagg and Fandral stop when they notice Loki stop. Loki can feel Frúar sending him warnings, that danger is near.

"Something's happening," he starts to say only to get interrupted by an explosion in the cell, knocking out the other prisoners inside, covering the inside black smoke with a red vibrant coming from Algrim. They hear a roar coming from the cell.

He starts to punch the ground before letting out a roar one more time.

"Guards!" Loki shouts, two of them came rushing towards the sound as Loki does as well, Volstagg and Fandral not too behind, taking out their weapons.

Loki stops before him, gripping Frúar for support at what's he's seeing. The prisoner with the mask is gone, only to be replaced by another one so much taller and bigger than the last one, grabbing one of the prisoners and proceed to collide his face against the barrier, shocking his face as he screams in agony. They all stare in shock as the prisoner, Kursed, raises his fist and punches the barrier, breaking it into pieces, and officially becoming a bigger problem. The two Asgardian guards pull Loki back telling the prince to get out of there before rushing towards Kursed.

"Get more guards, now!" Loki tells Fandral and Volstagg.

But the two stayed as Loki turns to see in horror that Kursed quickly took the guards down, hauling them up from the ground by their necks, his hands brightening red. Loki remembers something about this but can't recall when... Then it came to him, long ago when his father told them the story of Malekith, about the Kursed Stone and its powers, and it hit the prince with a horrifying realization. If the Kursed Stone, who the Dark Elves mainly used, then that means...

"Dark Elves... _Jane_ ," Loki whispers, snapping out of it, and raising his scepter up and shooting a blast right at Kursed's chest, but Loki steps back with eyes widening when it had hardly done any damage to him. 

The Kursed lets go of the guards, killing them. Loki raised Frúar once again, shooting a more powerful blast than before, it made him stagger but nonetheless, it didn't stop him. The Dark Elf quickly grabs the other side of Fúar before the prince can do anything about it, using his strength, and heaving it along with Loki and threw him at Fandral, which made them both fall back. Volstagg tries to raise his weapon at him only to be rammed and thrust back to the two of them, landing against Fandral as Loki barely moved away. Loki looks as Kursed walks towards a cell and punches the barrier, breaking it once more, freeing the prisoners. And again. And again.

Loki pulls himself up, grabbing Frúar as some of the prisoners surrounds them. While that's happening more Asgardian guards rushes to the dungeon, grabbing weapons and shields as they head down. Loki rushes passed prisoners, using his magic to hold them down back in the cells until he stumbles a little when he spots the Dark Elf. And the Dark Elf was looking right back him, looking at him with the same look as before. Obsession and desire.

Nervously, Loki took a step back when he took a step forward.

"Stay back...don't come any closer," he tells him.

Kursed did in fact, stop walking for a second, looking at him before taking another step. Just as Kursed was about to grab him and Loki about to stab him with his scepter, a guard appear, grabbing Kursed's attention away from Loki enough time for him to run off. 

"Jane," he says to Frúar who immediately understands before turning invisible.

Meanwhile, Thor, Jane, and Frigga look off from where the dungeon was, hearing the blaring sounds.

"The prisons," Frigga stated.

"Loki..." Thor says with distress in his voice, "he's there with Fandral and Volstagg."

"Go, I will look after her," she tells her son.

He nods and runs off, ripping off his cloak and jumping off the building just as Mjolnir appears, the prince grabbing it, helping him fly off to the dungeon.

Volstagg and Fandral fight against the prisoners, the former taking down one by smashing his weapon against their chest while the latter slices another one, turning his attention to the one behind him.

"It's as if they resent being imprisoned," Fandral comments.

Volstagg smashes his weapon once again to a prisoner, making them hit against the wall before turning around and raising his battle axe to another. "There's no pleasing some creatures," he replies before kneeing someone in the face. While this was happening, Loki moves, using Frúar to swipe the prisoners' legs, shoot out blasts, and slamming her against their heads. It continues until Thor finally arrives. Everyone stopped fighting, all looking at him.

"Return to your cells and no further harm will come to you. You have my word."

Then, one of the prisoners punches him in the face. He blocks another one, grabbing him by the back of his head, using his hammer between them.

"Very well, you do not have my word." He then punches the prisoner with Mjolnir as the fighting carries on. One grabs Thor from behind while another one tries to strike him, only for the prince to kick him and pushes off the other guy, elbowing him before landing another hit to someone else, and tossing another one back, and hitting one with his hammer.

"Brother!" The young prince reveals himself.

"Loki!" Thor rushes towards him as they meet in the middle, fighting alongside. "Are you hurt?"

"No. Thor, it's the Dark Elves."

"What?"

"They know about Jane. Where is she?"

"She's with Mother."

"I'll go."

"Keep her safe," Thor tells him, as he throws his hammer at a prisoner who tries to grab Loki as he goes. 

* * *

"Send a squadron to the weapons vault, defend it at all costs. Seal the dungeon," Odin tells his men, as they head towards the threat, Gungnir in hand.

"Odin."

"Frigga," he turns to his guard to go before looking back to his Queen and the mortal next to her. "It's a skirmish, nothing to fear."

"You've never been a very good liar."

As they talk, Jane looks over to the Asgardian guards when one caught her interest. A woman, a warrior. And she's looking right back at her. Feeling a little anxious, she turns away, not knowing the lady, Sif, kept looking at her before turning forward.

"Despite all I have survived, my queen still worries over me," Odin rest his hands on the side of Frigga's face who smiles at him.

"It's only because I worry over you that you have survived," she replies before Odin leaves, and the two walked off in the other direction. As they passed a guard, Frigga grabs his sword, not once stopping. "Listen to me now, I need you to do everything I ask and no questions."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, you're not going to protect her with a plain sword, Mother." Loki shows himself, walking out of a pillar, going to Jane's side. He reveals Frúar. "If anyone can protect both of you, it will be Frúar."

"Loki..."

"I've made up my mind, and so did her."

Frigga hesitated before she takes the scepter and gives the sword to Loki. She smiles at her son, then at the scepter. "I am honored to be your possessor, only for a while, my dear."

Frúar's fiery orb brightens, almost like she's agreeing.

* * *

Heimdall stood in his usual place, watching everything that folds in Asgard but remains where he is. Then he hears something from behind him, thinking it's the wind blowing harshly. But...no, it's not the wind, though it is something harsh. He tries to see it but couldn't see a thing at first. Then, he instantly sees the ship. He turns around and begins to run, running on the Bifrost Bridge, dropping down on the side of it, not stopping. He sees it now, right next to him. By the time he's at the top, Heimdall takes out his two small swords and jumps.

He stabs it, starting an explosion and a small fire, making it visible. A Dark Elves' ship and it still keeps going, speeding up. Heimdall peers down and spots a part of the ship that could stop it, which looks to be a red engine. Using one of his swords, he drags it down, ruining the ship even more, trying to get to the engine as close as possible. Sliding down, he grabs near the ledge before falling and threw the small sword right at the red engine. It quickly exploded, catching fire.

Holding on, Heimdall waits for the right momentum, he jumps off the ship, landing right on the bridge. Tucking and rolling, he gets up to see the ship falls on the bridge as well, crashing and blowing up right in front of him. He lets out heavy breaths, satisfied at his work.

Suddenly, he feels chills running down his spine as he sees what's behind him. Turning around, there, was a ship, bigger than the one he destroyed. He stares with a tint of anger in his eyes as the ship releases smaller ships, all flying to Asgard. He sees it flying towards it, he sees it missed the shots the Asgardian guards are sending to them, he sees one of them crashing into of it. He sees it miss the shots from an Asgardian ship before another one crashes into that one as well. The Gatekeeper wastes no time running back to his observatory, grabbing the Hofund, and begins to start up the shield that protects Asgard. The shield begins to close up on Asgard, one of the Dark Elves' ship crashed into it, immediately exploding from the impact.

However, Kursed, who manages to take out many of the guards, has found the mechanism of the shield. Looking up at it, he raises his arms and slams it into it, instantly destroying it and deactivating the shield, allowing the Dark Elves to finally enter.

A ship, specifically Malekith's ship, enters, dodging all the firing headed to his direction, and he sees an opening, that happens to be the throne room. He speeds up and starts to destroy whatever's ahead of him, destroying pillars and decor, along with guards and Asgardians who tried to run off. The remaining soldiers hold their weapon up, as the crash rumbles around the palace.

Thor, Volstagg, and Fandral look up, feeling the impact as some of the ceiling parts fall, the former looking around in suspense. All this while Loki, Jane, and Frigga felt it as well just right below them, the mortal grabbing on to Loki as they try not to stumble and fall, the younger prince too also looks around, though more worried than his brother. He then looks back to Frigga.

"Mother, you are sure this will work?"

"It will be enough for you to help her, my son."

Loki wasn't quite sure what to feel about the plan, feeling dread within him but he nods nonetheless. Approaching his mother and scepter, he takes her hand as he looks at Fúar.

"Please protect my mother."

Loki can feel Frúar reassuring him, almost like she's wrapping around his heart protectively, promising him, almost as if replying "I'll do whatever it takes for her to survive."

With that, he nods at the scepters, rubbing the blade with his thumb once more before squeezing his mother's hand and letting go. He walks back to Jane who was waiting.

"Come, we must leave them."

She nods, trusting him before the two runs off, hand in hand. 

Meanwhile, as the Asgardian soldiers cautiously swords and shields raised, the ship's door opens, and one by one goes down by the Dark Elves' blasters. Some Dark Elves throws a device that grabs any guards near it and takes them out, sending them to who knows where. More and more soldiers come, and more of Dark Elves shooting back at them. The Asgardian and Elves rushes forward, all fighting, one slaying the other be it from Asgard or Svartalfheim.

One of them coming out from the ship was Malekith himself, watching the fight goes on, looking at the throne. Grabbing one of the devices from another Dark Elf, he throws it at the throne, the device eating and swallowing the throne until it was left to ruin. Loki and Jane kept running and hiding from any Dark Elf until one managed to find them, faltering when seeing Loki, who uses that as an advantage to kill them before continuing running off with Jane, doing everything in his power to protect the one person who truly loves his brother.

Odin came to the throne room with his men behind him, seeing all the dead bodies of both Aesir and Dark Elf. One was alive but before he could do he could raise his weapon, the AllFather raises his own, quickly killing the remaining one. When he fell, he looks around his throne room. Death all around. So many bodies on the floor. There he notices right away, for the first time, who the enemies truly were. Dark Elves.

Dark Elves. Looking for the Aether. The mortal...

"...Frigga," he whispers in the realization that his Queen is too in danger. 

* * *

Malekith enters the door Frigga, Loki, and Jane were hiding. Loki pulls Jane behind him as they move backward while Frigga moves forward, Frúar in hand.

"Stand down, creature. You may still survive this," Frigga declares.

"I have survived worse, woman," Malekith states before he stopped walking, staring at Loki.

Loki didn't do anything but stare back with a cautious expression. Frigga scowls as if she's regretting something. For a while, not a single person said a word, however, there was no need for it, everyone can read it. Loki and Malekith were just having a staring contest and everyone can read in his eyes, what it screams. _Mine_. _Mine, mine, all mine_.

"Who are you?" Frigga brings the Dark Elf's attention.

"I am Malekith, and I would have what it is mine and what is _now_ mine."

Frigga glances back at Jane and Loki, the former grabbing hold of the latter's arm. As Malekith moves forward, Loki pulls Jane back and moves them away, but Frigga instantly turns back to him, slicing him with Früar's blade. It caught the Dark Elf off guard but he quickly pulls out his own weapon. He tries to strike her but she was faster, blocking and using the scepter's fiery orb to blast the sword off of his grip before thwacking him again with the scepter's blade across his arm.

Malekith attempts to land a blow but once again, the queen was faster, moving back before he can even touch her skin. Sliding down on one knee, Frigga slashes and slice at his armor all the while dodging and blocking his blows. Loki and Jane watch as Frigga swings the scepter at Malekith who dodges back but only to get backhanded by the queen and ends it with Frúar's blade against the Dark Elf's neck, pushing him against a pillar. They stayed like that until they hear heavy footsteps far beside them, Malekith glancing back, making Frigga glance back, only for Kursed to greet them.

Frigga tries to swing at him only for him to grab her wrist and grabs her neck with his other hand, picking her up. Now holding her against the nape of her neck as they watch Malekith approaches Loki and Jane, the former pushing the latter behind him, protectively.

"You have taken something, child," he says. "Give it back."

He made a grab for Loki and when the two of them dissolve, revealing they were holograms the entire time. Malekith spins around, glaring daggers at Frigga, who only smirk back at him.

"Witch! Where are the boy and the Aether?"

"I'll never tell."

Malekith gazes up at Kursed and nods, who knows what he needs to do. Kill the queen. which was something Frúar strongly disagree with. Because in one moment, the scepter was being gripped by Frigga and the next, she's moving on her own, giving Kursed the most powerful blast she can muster, sending him back.

Frigga grabs the scepter, spins around, and sends a blast back at Malekith, making him fly off. She turns just in time to raise Frúar and block the sword from an angered Kursed. However, with his anger, combined with the Kursed Stone, the impact was just _too_ much for the scepter. 

* * *

Loki and Jane were still running hand in hand, searching for Thor, something he and his mother agreed on. But all of a sudden, Loki felt...off, like pain that slowly by the second, starts to grow. Then, it hit him. Figuratively and literally. The pain was so excruciating and agonizing that it made the prince gasp and choked, and trips over his own feet, causing to let go of Jane's hand as he tumbles on the ground.

"Loki!" Jane shouts, crouching down at where the prince is pressing his forehead against the floor, clutching his chest. "What happened?! Tell me what's going on?!"

"Pa...p, pain," Loki answers, eyes shut. "Hurt... _Frúar_."

"Frú—Frúar? Is something wrong with your scepter?"

Loki groans but nods nonetheless, tears pouring down his face by now. "H, hurts. Pl...please... Make it stop."

"Loki, I—" Jane can only hold him close. "I don't know what to do. T, tell me what I need to do."

"Please," he sobs, " _please_."

"I, Loki—"

"Frúar— Please! W...what's happening?!" Loki cries out. "T, talk to me..."

"Loki..."

Everything just hurts. It feels like someone is _torturing_ him. This feeling is even worse than all the tries and fails of bonding. But... In two seconds, the pain is stopped, gone, as if it wasn't there in the first place. The thing that replaced it, something that Loki will forever loathe, was hollow, emptiness. Loki snaps his eyes open.

"Loki..." Jane lets go of him, concern written all over her face. "Are you okay?"

The prince lifts his head to look at her, tears still falling.

"I...feel nothing, Jane... I don't feel _anything_..."

At first, Jane doesn't understand what he's trying to explain until she remembers what he told her, and she let out a small gasp.

He can't feel Frúar. 

* * *

The scepter lays in the ground, snapped in two, right in the middle, her green fiery orb is long gone. Frigga stares in shock and disbelief.

"No..." She whispers.

The queen doesn't notice the other Dark Elves until it was too late as Kursed grabbed her by the nape of her neck once again.

"I won't ask again, where are the boy and the Aether."

"I'll never tell," she repeats, maintaining eye contact that's mixed with determination and sadness in her eyes.

"I believe you."

And just like that, Kursed stabbed Frigga in the back, dropped her to the ground. There, they hear a cry from afar, Malekith turns to look only for lightning to greet him, striking him on the side of his face, burning and scarring him, making him fly off and land on the stairs. Thor rushes in, throwing Mjolnir at them, as Kursed picked Malekith off and running.

The hammer slams against Kursed's back, making them fall off the railing. Thor calls out for his hammer, running up to check, only to see the Dark Elves ship fly off. Thor made another attempt to throw Mjolnir at them but they successfully escaped to the bigger ship, who vanished. Thor gazes at where they were before turning around, and just...looking, calling back for his hammer but not once taking his eyes off from what's in front of him.

All the while, Odin walks in, stopping in his track, before moving his legs once more. His queen and wife lie on the ground, dead. Frúar, Loki's scepter, inches away from her, is snapped in half. Jane and Loki finally enter the room, tossing the plan aside, because finding out what happened was more important. The mortal was supporting the prince as he leaned against her since he's still drained both physically and mentally, his arm over her neck and shoulder as she put her arm around his waist. However, the two stopped as they see what's in front of them.

"Mother..." Loki whispered, eyes widening. He pushed himself off of Jane, limping towards his mother and father when he stops altogether, staring at the one special thing on the ground. His father cradles his mother and his brother begins to let out tears of his own but he pays them no mind. Don't get him wrong, he's heartbroken and grieving too, but the one thing that's on the ground has his attention.

Frúar. His scepter. _His Frúar_. Lying on the ground, snapped and broken but Loki wouldn't call it that. What he sees is his scepter lying on the ground, dead. He leans down and picks the two pieces, holding him close to his chest, his face showing no expression yet tears begin to fall once again. 

* * *

The funeral is held. Frigga lays on her deathbed, flowers all around her. Even there, she is beautiful, a veil over her face, sword under her hands. Her ships flow to the ocean, where everyone mourns for the death of their queen. Odin stares at the ship, along with an expressionless Loki who standing next to Thor and Jane, the two glancing at the Allfather.

An Asgardian guard readied his bow and flaming arrow. A beat pass then the guard shoots the arrow, the ship catching fire. More flaming arrows fly towards the other ships from the fallen from the battle. As Odin hits his weapon Gungnir down, Frigga's ship nearly falls to the edge only to not fall but float, her glowing glisten soul flows up, up towards the star, stars that begin to brighten above them. The Asgardians gently push the glowing orb to the sky.

And with that, Loki couldn't take it anymore and turns invisible, using his magic to go back to his room. He gazes at his bed, where Frúar lays. He walks to the middle, and by merely balling his hands to a fist, the furniture around him, excluding his bed where his scepter lays, moves all around him, slamming and crashing against his wall, most of them broke from the impact as Loki finally let himself fall to his knees. 

He couldn't care less about the mess he made, he just can't seem to _care_ overall. Two of his family members are _dead_... 

* * *

"The universe rotates on a five thousand year cycle, and once it's cycled all the worlds align. Imagine...imagine that this is our world, and...and—Oh, thank you. And this is another world. Normally they're separate, but during the alignment, everything is connected. All Nine Realms, all Nine Realms are passing through each other, and gravity, light, and even matter, is _crunching_ from one world to the other.

"But if this happens to us now, the result would be _cataclysmic_. My gravimetric spikes can stabilize the focal point of the Convergence. This time the alignment, and all the other worlds, would just pass up by. It's beautiful. It's simple. Any questions?"

...

"Yeah. Can I have my shoe back?" 

* * *

Jane sits by herself, running her hands down her other arm. She looks up, seeing something red in the sky, now expanding. It's becoming more liquidy, moving around. The Aether. Jane walks towards it. She looks around as darkness and red forms all around her, all around Asgard. One moment her eyes were completely black but as she blinks, everything is back to normal.

"Jane Foster?" 

She spins back, seeing three guards headed towards her.

"You need to come with us."

Meanwhile, Fandral and Odin examine the damage to the palace where Malekith had crashed his ship.

"We are still unable to restore the palace shields. Our artillery cannot detect them, even Heimdall cannot see them," Fandral glances around, before looking back at the Allfather, with a concerned expression. "My King, we are all but defenseless."

Just then, Thor walks in.

"She's your prisoner now?" Thor gazes at the others. "Leave us."

As they left, Odin turns to his older child.

"I do not wish to fight with you," he starts.

"Nor I with you," Thor replies, "but _I_ intend to pursue Malekith."

"We possess the Aether, Malekith will come to us."

"Yes, and you will destroy us."

"You overestimate the power of these creatures."

"No, I _value_ our people's lives," he declares. "I'll take Jane to the Dark World and draw the enemy away from Asgard. When Malekith pulls the Aether from Jane it will be exposed vulnerable, and I will destroy it _and_ him."

"If you fail, you risk this weapon falling into the hands of our enemies."

"The risk is far greater if we do _nothing_. His ship could be over our heads right now and we'd _never_ even know it."

"If and when he comes, his men will fall on ten thousand Asgardian blades," Odin retorts.

"And how of _our_ men shall fall on _theirs_?"

"As many as are _needed_!" Odin pauses, letting out a pained groan before continuing. "We will _fight_! Until the last Asgardian breath, to the last drop of Asgardian blood."

"And how are you _different_ from Malekith?"

Odin let out a humorless laugh. "The difference, my son, is that _I_ will win." Finishing his statement, he walks away, leaving Thor alone.

"You're not in Odin's war council?" Thor asks Heimdall as he approaches him. After him and his father's talk, he went and sat alone at a table with a drink.

"The Bifrost is closed by your father's orders. No one is to come or to go," he answers as he takes off his helmet. "We face an enemy that is invisible even to me, of what use is a guardian such as that?"

Thor sighs, "Malekith will return, you know this," he looks up. "I'll need your help."

"I cannot overrule my King's wishes, not even for you."

"I'm not asking you to," the prince reassures. "The Realms need their Allfather strong and unchallenged, whether he is or not. But he is _blinded_ , Heimdall, by hatred and by grief."

"As are we all," Heimdall says quickly.

"Well, _I_ see clearly enough."

"The risks are too great," he tries.

"Everything that we do from here on is a risk, there is no other way."

Heimdall thinks for a second, hesitating, before continuing.

"What do you require of me?"

"What I'm about to ask of you is treason of the highest order. Success will bring us exile and failure shall mean our death." Sif, Fandral, and Volstagg sneak their way to where they'll meet Thor, Sif glancing back in case anyone is following them before walking off. "Malekith _knew_ the Aether was here, he can sense its power. If we do nothing he will come for it again, but this time lay waste to all of Asgard."

Sitting at the table, Thor continues, the other listening carefully, "we must move Jane off-world."

"The Bifrost has been shut down and the Tesseract locked away in a vault," Sif states.

Heimdall explains, "there are other paths off Asgard, ways known only to a few."

"One, actually."

At first, they all looked at him in confusion, excluding Heimdall, then they all realize what, or rather _who_ , he's talking about.

"No..." 

* * *

When Loki returned home, it was Frigga first who decided that Loki was not allowed to leave Asgard. But now that she's gone, and after Odin later finds out that Malekith knows about him from the prince telling him about the plan he and the queen came up with, Loki is now forbidden to leave Asgard and now has guards in front of his room, strictly not allowed leaving his room unless absolutely necessary. The king doesn't need to be there (not that he doesn't want to see it) to now that Malekith has already fallen for his son. The last thing he needs is another family of his taken from the Dark Elf. Loki doesn't seem to mind, just nodding to his father's orders and going back to his room.

Thor approaches his room, telling the guards he'll enter rather than asking, knowing they wouldn't even stop him. Quietly and gently entering his brother's room, he sees Loki lying on his bed in the middle of reading his book, his room neat and clean as always.

"Thor! My _dear_ brother," Loki said, giving him a sly grin, a little _too_ cheerful for the eldest liking. "After everything that happened yesterday and _now_ you come to visit me. Why? Have you come to check? To see if your _sweet_ brother alive and well?"

"Loki, _enough_ ," Thor commands, his serious expression not changing. "No more illusions."

Loki looks at him before him along with his room dissolves, revealing his true self. Tables, chairs, and books are either broken, scattered around or both, the bed was the only thing normal aside from Frúar untouched, the younger prince sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. His hair and clothes are a mess, his tearful eyes are red-rimmed and have dark circles under them, tear stains on both cheeks, new ones overlapping the dry ones.

"Now you see me, brother," he says pathetically, his mouth slightly wobbling before he unintentionally let out a pitiful whine that sounds like he's trying to hold it in.

In a flash, Thor drops the serious act, quickly approaching his younger brother and sitting right next to him. Loki moves his head away from Thor, glaring at the ground. The brothers didn't say a word, just stayed there for a few seconds before Thor pulls his hand out for Loki, who without looking at the eldest, takes it, the two still saying nothing but kept holding one's hand.

"I'm sorry, about Frúar," Thor starts, glancing up at the broken scepter. "Did she suffer?"

"...I'm honestly not sure if 'suffer' is the right word to describe the torment she had to go through," Loki finally reply. "Did...did _she_ suffer?"

"I...I only arrived just as she fell. I only hope she didn't."

"Did you made him suffer?"

"I made sure he's scarred for life."

Loki sighs, now moving his head to rest on his brother's shoulder. "Good...that's good..." They stayed silent before Loki continues. "Why are you _really_ here, Thor? I know you didn't come here to talk about...everything."

"You're right, I did not come here to share our grief," he begins. "Instead, I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

Loki furrows his eyebrows at that. "Go on."

"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you, vengeance. And this now cell Father calls your room."

"You must be truly _desperate_ to come to _me_ , an unstable mourning son and friend, for help. What makes you think you can trust me without ruining your plan?"

"I do... I know you're hurting. I am too. But I also know we thrive from the anger Malekith left us, and vengeance for our mother _and_ Frúar. I know you want to kill him just as much as _I_ do. And I know the last thing you want to be is stuck in your room, doing absolutely nothing, having absolutely no say in anything, do nothing but watch Asgard go down in flames."

Loki opens his eyes, looking at the ceiling. Then, he lets out a humorless giggle.

"When do we start?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other half of the movie lol

_You shouldn't bring him along._

_He's mourning, Thor, and that may get it killed._

_He's not in the right mind to be going out and fight, he should be here._

_If Malekith sees him again, he'll be sure to take him._

Maybe Thor should listen to his friends. After all, what they say is true, but if anyone needs this the most, that would be his brother. He needs this. Even if he's starting to annoy him with this new... "character" he's acting.

"This is so unlike you, brother," Loki slyly grins. "So clandestine. Are you sure you wouldn't rather punch your way out?"

"Loki... If you keep speaking, I just might."

The younger brother let out a dramatic sigh, "fine... As you wish...I'm not even here."

Thor can feel it rather than see it and he's not even surprised to turn to look at his brother and see it's not him but a guard.

"Is this better?" Thor merely sent him a disapproving glance. "Still, we would be less conspicuous."

As Thor rolls his eyes, he feels...different.

"Mm, brother, you look ravishing."

What? Thor looks down and sees that he's in the appearance of...

"It will hurt no less when I tell Sif what you said."

"Oh, please, as if she was ever interested in me, but very well. Perhaps you prefer one of our new companions, given that you seem to like them so much and even _approve_ of one of them."

"What are you—" Thor nearly stops walking when he saw who was now walking alongside him.

"Oh, this is much better," comments Loki in the form of Steve Rogers, suit and shield and everything, raising a brow at him and smiling from ear to ear. "Ooh, the costume is a bit much for me, but it works very well on _him_."

" _Loki_ —"

"So tight," the young prince continues, "not sure how he can do this, but the confidence!" Loki shoots him another sly grin and proceeds to raise his arm and flex his muscle while raising his other arm that's carrying the shield close to his chest. "Hey, you wanna have a rousing discussion about truth, honor, patriotism? God bless Amer—"

Thor suddenly grabs his brother, covering his mouth with his hand, and slams him against a pillar a little too harshly than he liked, but it seems to snap Loki back to his true self.

"What?" Loki snaps once Thor moves his hand away from his mouth. Thor only looks to where he spots two guards walking off, before letting go of his brother. "Oh."

"Loki, what has gotten into you?"

"I believe our dear friend Natasha calls it 'coping mechanism'," the younger prince clears his throat.

Thor pressed his lips together before giving Loki space, then reaching to grab something from his back. "You're going to need a weapon."

Then, he pulls out Loki's daggers, the ones he always used before he met...

Loki instantly feels sick. "I don't want to—"

"You're going to need to protect your—"

"I don't want to use any—"

"Well, do you want me to protect you?"

"I don't need your protection!" He snaps at the eldest. "I have my looks, they wouldn't dare touch me. I don't need a weapon."

Thor stays silent, before pressing the dagger closer to Loki's hand. "Please, Loki. Just take the dagger, for me."

Loki merely curls his hand to a fist, before reluctantly taking the dagger, looking at it in distaste, mumbling out a "let's just go get your woman".

As the two make their way, Loki asks him who's bringing Jane.

"Sif."

" _Lady Sif?_ "

"That I said."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing... Just a little audacious, to ask a lady who loves you to retrieve the woman you love," Loki tells him in a very casual tone.

Thor, in return, takes a deep breath and exhale slowly. _He's mourning, don't get angry at him, he's mourning._

Finally, finally, the two brothers met with Jane and Sif.

"Loki, hey," Jane gives him a hesitant smile.

Loki grips the dagger in his hand as he holds back a snarky remark. "Jane, I'm glad you're well," he turns back to Thor. "What now?"

"By now, Heimdall should be distracting Father, we must go."

"There they are! Take them."

"Yes, we must," Loki raises a brow at the guard heading their way.

"I'll hold them off," Sif turns to Thor, "take them."

"...thank you."

The three made their way to Volstagg, sitting on a destroyed pillar in front of a massive ship. Right as Thor thanks his friends, dozens of guards have entered the scene, not allowing any form of goodbyes as the three made their way into the ship.

"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing," Loki comments as he sees his brother pressing random buttons.

"I said, 'how hard could it be?'"

"Very from the looks of it," Loki pauses as he hears the commotion from outside. "Whatever you're doing, brother, I suggest you do it faster."

"Shut up, Loki."

"You must have missed something."

"No, I didn't. I'm pressing every button on this thing."

"Don't hit it. Just press it, gently."

"I'm pressing it gently, it's not working!" Thor spats out as he proceeds to smack his hands at every button.

Loki's eyebrow twitches as he presses his middle finger on one button Thor seemed to miss. Right in front of his face. And just like that, the lights in the ship flickered before turning on. The younger prince looks back at his brother.

"Press it. Gently."

Thor just shakes his head before starting the ship and getting them out of there before a guard gets them. Thor swirls the ship around, destroying more pillars and decor.

"...I think you missed a column."

"Shut up!"

With that, Thor begins to pilot them away, swerving around carelessly and sloppy that Loki has to hold onto something to not fall.

"Look, why don't you let me take over? I'm clearly the better pilot."

"Is that right? Well, out of the two of us, which one can actually fly?"

Before Loki can reply, Thor jerks the ship sideways to try and dodge the blast. Unexpectedly, they hear a thump to their right, Jane laying on the ground, almost unconscious.

"Oh, dear. Congratulations, Thor, you've made her sick."

"Jane?"

"...I'm okay."

More blast shoots their way, one hitting them, making the two stumble. The blast distracted the eldest, swerving around and hitting a building.

"Not a word."

Loki simply snerks when he sees that smaller ships were behind them. "Now they're following us." Blasts can be heard as the brothers dodge down and Thor maneuvering the ship. "Now they're _firing_ at us!"

"Yeah, thank you for the commentary, Loki, it's not at all distracting!"

"Any time, Thor."

As Thor maneuvers the ship once more, he hits a stone monument of King Bor, slicing his head off.

"Well done. You just decapitated your grandfather."

"Loki, I'm giving you five seconds to shut up."

More ships followed and fire at them, Thor attempting to dodge every single one of them. "You know, this is wonderful. This is a _tremendous_ idea."

"Loki—"

"Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant, Thor! It's truly brilliant! Now, what are we going to—"

Then, Thor pushes him, out of the ship door that Thor managed to open. It wasn't long until Loki hits the hard ground of a smaller ship, who was being flown by Fandral of all people. A second passed before Thor followed along with Jane in his arms. Just above, the now-abandoned ship is being followed by the Asgardian ships.

Fandral laughs, "I see your time staying in Asgard has made you no less graceful, Loki."

"Is that right?" Loki looks up, smiling very sweetly at Fandral that it makes Thor a little sick. "My, Fandral, it's _really_ good to see you."

"Is _that_ right?"

Thor glares back at them as he lays a sleeping Jane down. "Loki, take us to your secret pathway," he interrupts whatever was just happening right now.

Loki smiles before gliding his hand on top of Fandral's before gently moving his away to take control, and it takes all of Thor's might to not snap at his brother. The younger lifts the ship a little higher, going more faster than ever, and turning to where he would usually run away from his family as a mischievous teen. Hearing blasts from behind, Thor glance back, seeing a lone Asgardian ship following them. Loki moves the ship steady and nice, dodging each and every blast before lifting the ship higher.

"Fandral."

"Right," Fandral grabs the rope tied to the ship, but before he does anything, he grabs one of Loki's hand, lifting it close to his lips and pressing a small kiss, "for Asgard."

Loki all the while giving him a loving smile. Thor all the while not liking it one bit.

Then, Fandral jumps off the ship, using the rope and momentum to swing to the other ship, landing on it.

"I've already missed him so."

"Loki. Pathway. Now."

Loki turns the ship, heading straight towards two mountains, fast.

"Loki?"

"If it were easy, everyone would do it."

"Are you mad?"

"Possibly," Loki smirks... And Thor doesn't like that on his brother's face at all.

As Thor goes down to cover Jane, he readied for impact as Loki continued forward, not at all nervous or anxious, heading straight towards the gap between the mountains, despite the ship crashing between them. Then...

"Ta-da!" 

They made it to Svartalfheim. 

* * *

The brothers sat in silence as the youngest continued to fly the ship, the eldest covering Jane with a blanket until the former opened his mouth.

"How is she?"

"She's well."

"She's holding up alright...well, for now. Let's just hope."

"She's strong in ways you'd never even know."

"You're right. The powers that flow through those veins, it would consume her."

Thor stayed quiet for a while until he opened his mouth this time. "Do you hate her?"

"...I beg your pardon?"

"Do you hate her?"

"Why are you asking me that? Why would I hate her?"

"I've noticed your manner...changed when we met back with her. Malekith was looking for her. He wanted her. Instead, he found..."

Loki wet his lips, looking down on his hands before looking back up at the mortal.

"Do you want me to lie or tell the truth?"

"Truth, Loki."

Loki takes a deep breath. "I want to, I really, _really_ want to. But I can't. It wasn't her. It was him."

Thor takes it all in, before asking, "how are you? Are you well?"

"Truth or Lie?"

"Truth, always."

"...I think we both know the answer to that, Thor," Loki pauses, then let out a humorless laugh. "I hate it. By every second, my hate for it is growing and growing. I feel nothing, absolutely _nothing_. Just, emptiness. It's just vacant, the only feeling I feel is my own. Just hatred. It's been so long, I have forgotten how it feels to not share emotions with someone. Is this how it feels like? Do you feel nothing with your hammer, Thor?

"I'm a little envious, you know," he let out another humorless laugh, "you still have your precious little Mjolnir, while I have nothing. Just... Nothing."

"Loki, I... I'm so sorry about Frúar, I really, really am."

The younger prince nods, not meeting his brother's eyes. "She was the first one to love me, you know. Love me for _me_. Not my beauty." He begins to tap on the handle with his fingers. "I loved her too, she was my first ever friend who didn't want to marry me. But now, all I feel is nothing. This day, the next, a hundred years, I will forever feel _nothing_ ," he glances back at Jane with a look of grief and anguish. "You'll never be ready. The only woman whose love you've prized will be snatched from you. Two women who loved me has already been snatched."

"Lo—"

"Don't," the youngest turns his head away. "Don't, son of Odin."

"No, not _just_ of Odin."

"And I wish it was the same for me." From the look on Thor's face, it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Forgotten about my parentage so quickly?"

"She loved you, just like you were her own. You had her tricks, you had her trust—"

"Trust? Was that her last expression? Trust? When _I_ let her die by not staying with her? She had _your_ trust. I'm sure mine was broken the moment Frúar died as well," Loki shakes his head before whispering to himself: "I should have stayed with her."

"Now, you know that's not true."

"Enough, Thor... Do you still trust me?"

"Yes," he replied in an instant.

"Don't trust me, Thor. Trust my rage," he takes a deep breath before letting it out. "So, the plan?" 

What felt like an eternity, Jane has woken up, her eyes darkened, something the brothers noticed.

"Jane?"

She ignored Thor as she moves up to look forward, where they see a ship.

"Malekith," was all she says.

The three left their ship and head to a cliff where they can view the ship landing, where many of Malekith's soldiers are marching, seeing Malekith himself, along with Kursed.

"Alright, are you ready?" Thor looks at Jane who still has her eyes blackened but she nods nonetheless.

"I am," Loki voices out, smiling at them.

The brothers lift themselves off the ground, revealing themselves to Malekith, somehow knowing who is who considering the Dark Elf has his eyes only on Loki, much to Thor's displeasure.

"You know this plan of yours is going to get one of us killed."

"Yes, possibly."

Loki smiles. "So, you trust me?"

"Would you?"

"It's arguable."

With that, Loki pulls out his dagger and stabs Thor before pushing him off the cliff and following suit, ignoring Jane's cry. All the while as Malekith watch in interest and awe, beginning to walk towards them. Thor finally rolls to the ground, groaning, hearing Loki's footsteps from behind him.

"You really think I cared about Frigga, about _any_ of you?" He says out loud for the Dark Elves to hear as he kicks Thor in the face. "All I ever wanted was you and Odin _dead_ at my feet!"

Thor sees his hammer from afar and pulls his hand out, calling for Mjolnir. But it passed him, for as Loki sliced his hand off clean, causing Thor to scream in pain.

"If I lose my ability to have my weapon, then so will you," once Loki was finished, he slams his foot on Thor's chest. Jane finally reached the brothers when Loki suddenly grabs her by the waist harshly, the mortal struggling. "Malekith!" Loki calls out to him, giving him a grin that seemed to make everyone stop in their tracks to stare, the Dark Elves no exception. He continues with a lilt in his voice that always gets the people entranced. "I am Loki of _Jotunheim_ and I bring you a gift—" He throws Jane at his feet. "As a thank you for what you've done to Asgard! I ask only one thing in return, a good seat from which I watch it burn."

Loki sees Kursed turns to Malekith, speaking something in their language. The two go back and forth before Malekith speaks up.

"I will give you more than that, Loki of Jotunheim!" Malekith pulls out his hand to the prince, "be mine. Rule alongside me and we'll both watch it burn."

Loki gave him a look of surprise. "You would want _me_ to rule with you?"

"Of course."

"How gracious of you," Loki gives him an alluring smile, taking Malekith's hand. "How can I say no?"

The two walk to where Thor is, holding on to his injured forearm.

"Look at me," he tells Thor, in which Loki helps him by nudging his leg to move him, the god of thunder finally looking at the both of them.

Then, Malekith raises his right arm, lifting Jane from the ground. The three looks as the Dark Elf extricates the Aether from her. Slowly but surely, the Aether was out of Jane and she was dropped from to the ground, the Aether still flowing in the air. Then—

"Loki! Now!"

With a flick of his wrist, Thor's hand was visible once again, the illusion dissolving as he calls for Mjolnir. Loki rushes to Jane, covering her as Thor shoots lightning at the Aether. Then the Aether exploded, now just smoke. The Aether was shattered pieces, the three taking a breather that it's destroyed. However, the shattered pieces then begin to lift itself from the ground. They look around in astonishment and horror when the realization hits them that Thor didn't, in fact, kill the Aether. It made its way to Malekith, and they watch as the Dark Elf absorbed it. Malekith opens his eyes, to see it blackened like how Jane's eyes were.

He turns to Kursed before the two begins to walk back to the ship, the Dark Elves making their way to them, or more specifically, Loki. It didn't take long for Thor to slam his hammer to each of them. Loki then noticed Kursed taking a device out and throwing it at Jane. Loki's eyes widen and before he could think, he pushes Jane away and attempts to move as well when he feels himself getting lifted. Loki closes his eyes and readied himself when Thor came to his rescue, grabbing him away as the device was left to nothing. The two look at one another before nodding then standing up, seeing the others walking back to their ships.

Thor whirls his hammer around before he flies towards them. Just as he was about to hit Malekith, Kursed slams his fist at him, making him go the other side. He let out a grunt, getting up as the Dark Elf makes his way towards him. He lifts his hands to swing on him only for Kursed to grab both of them and knees him before laying his own blows at the god. As he backhands Thor, making him fly off, the ship left, disappearing from the eyes. Many Dark Elves who stayed behind surrounded Loki and as one tries to grab him, Loki blocks him and proceeds to slash at them with his dagger. One by one they try to grab him, but he slices their hands too fast and harsh to the point where some of the Dark Elves' fingers came off clean. From the corner of his eye, he can see his brother and the larger Dark Elf still going at it, the latter backhanding the former to the mountain, proceed to punch a large rock connected to the ground, breaking it and throwing it at Thor. Damn it all, Thor is losing this battle, Loki realizes as Thor attempts to call for Mjolnir but the Dark Elf simply smacks it away before it can reach its owner. Loki focuses back on his own battle when one of them attempts to slice him with their sword, quickly slashing their throat before going against the one on his right. _Not much time, they're running out of time..._

Finally killing the last Dark Elf, he locates where his older brother is now before darting towards them, grabbing one of the fallen Dark Elf's sword. Kursed has Thor on the ground, throwing blows after blows, not allowing Thor any time to fight back. Thor only grits his teeth in pain, seeing the larger Dark Elf raises his arms ready to strike him once more when a sword impales him from behind. Kursed didn't even think as he quickly turns around, grabs the person responsible for it, and pulls them into the blade sticking out in front of him. Only then he realizes just _who_ he pulled, did he pull the person out but the deed is done; the Dark Elf intensely wounded the god of beauty, the prince coughing out blood. Loki hears his brother shouts but didn't care as he lazily grins up at Kursed from the ground where he fell.

"See you in hell, monster," he pants out.

Kursed hears a beep, looking down to see that the sword was attached to their device and before he can do anything else, he's being swallowed and destroyed as a whole, and in an instant, he's gone. Quickly, Thor stood up, rushing over to Loki's side.

"No," he utters out, carefully pulling Loki to his arms. "No, no, no! Oh, you fool, you didn't listen!"

Loki let out a pained laugh that turns to a cough. "I know. I'm a fool, I'm a fool—"

"Stay with me, okay?"

"But so are you."

"Shh—"

"You shouldn't have trusted me," he wheezes out, curling and uncurling his fists, smiling as Thor registers the implication, letting out another laugh that sounded almost like a sob.

"S, stay with me, okay?"

"I'm sorry—"

"Shh."

"I'm so sorry, Thor. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Thor quickly begins blinking back tears. "It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today."

Loki let out more coughs, more blood coming out, but he kept smiling up at Thor, clutching at his armor. "I didn't do it for _him_."

"Oh. _Oh, Loki._ "

"You have to leave me."

"No, I won't—"

"You don't have much time. Go."

"No!"

"Don't make this harder for me, brother. Go. Kill Malekith, for me. For _her_. I'll be fine, just go."

"No, I—"

" _Thor_ ," Loki interlaced their fingers, practically squeezing his hand hard. "Just. _Go_."

Thor squeezes back, sucking in a breath hard, before gently placing Loki on the ground. "Jane—"

"I'm so sorry, I'm so—"

"Jane, we must go," Thor tells her as he harshly wipes his tears, ignoring the thunder, ignoring the storm. 

* * *

"He's going to unleash it," Jane tells Thor, the two inside a cave, away from the storm. "Not just on Asgard, or on a star. Malekith is going to destroy _everything_."

"How? Jane, how?"

"I saw him on Earth. Why would he go to Earth?"

It wasn't hard for Thor to think of an answer. "The Convergence."

"Oh, God. None of this would have happened if I hadn't found the Aether."

"Then Malekith would have only possessed it that much sooner."

"I only found it because I was looking for you. And, and none of this would have happened and Loki—"

"Jane," he says, gently, placing his hand on the side of her face.

She relaxes, leaning closer against his hand. "Now, we're trapped here."

Suddenly, a noise interrupts them, both looking at one another in confusion.

"It's not me," Thor says.

Jane's eyes widen before pulling out her phone, ringing and buzzing in her hand, then press the call button. "Hello?"

_"Hi, Jane, it's Richard."_

"Richard?!" She looks back up at Thor. "Where are you?"

_"I'm still in the office. It's...It's been a crazy day here today."_

"Oh, my God, this is amazing," she comments as she puts him on speaker, looking and moving around.

_"Is it? I quite enjoyed our lunch despite never actually ordering anything."_

"How am I getting service here?"

_"Is this a bad time? Do you want me to try you there?"_

"No, no, no, no! Please, whatever you do, do not hang up the phone," Jane quickly responds as she continues to look and move around the cave, all the while as Thor watches and stare at her silently.

_"Okay then. I was just wondering if you want to try again? Uh...maybe dinner next time."_

"Uh...yeah, yeah, yeah. Um...just stay on the phone, okay?"

_"Yeah, I will."_

"Oh, my God." Jane looks down to see the soda can from the abandoned factory along with familiar keys, picking up the latter.

_"Am I interrupting something?"_

"No, no, no, nothing at all," realizing where they can go, she turns back to Thor, smiling. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Thor asks.

_"I'm losing you there, are you in a tunnel?"_

"Why are there so many shoes in here?"

It's like a miracle happened. They're back on Earth. Thor and Jane head to where Ian's wrecked yet still a workable car.

"So, who's Richard?"

" _Really_?" 

It felt like forever until she was back in her place, Darcy and the others already inside. She walks in, taking off the cloak around her as Thor hangs Mjolnir on the coat hanger next to the door.

"Jane!"

"Hey."

"You can't just leave like that. The whole world is going crazy. All the stuff we saw is spreading... Did you go to a party?"

"Erik?" Jane ignores Darcy as she sees her old friend who's..?

"Jane!" The man embraces her. "You've been to Asgard."

"Where are your pants?"

"Oh, he, uh... He says it helps him think."

"Okay, well, I'm gonna need everything you got on this. All the work you've been doing on gravimetric anomalies, _everything_."

"Okay," Erik says without any hesitation.

"Are you well, Erik?" Thor asks him, in which the person in question laughs then looks back in a little confusion.

"Your brother's not with you?"

"No... He's...stayed behind."

"Oh, what a shame."

"Oooh, the hot one right? That sucks, I really wanted to get to know him, if you know what I mean." 

* * *

Loki stares aimlessly at the sky, his hand twitching as he lifts it to the air once again, his palm open.

"Come to me...Frúar..." he mumbles tiredly before coughing once more, blood no longer coming out.

He didn't know it was possible to get paler than ever. He didn't bother healing himself, he couldn't care to. He didn't see a reason to. His mother is dead, his best friend and scepter is dead. He just, couldn't care. In the end, everything will be fine, though. Thor will kill Malekith, he will avenge them, all three of them.

"Come...to me, Frúar..." he says again, so very quiet.

How is he not dead? It's almost like someone is not letting him...

"Come to me, _Frúar_."

But nothing happened. He can't sense anything, he can't _feel_ anything. It's just. Nothing. Absolutely _nothing_. And he hates it, he hates it with a passion. His fingers begin to shake as his visions darken around the edges. He never thought this would happen; to die without his scepter by his side.

"Please..." he begs, wheezing and hacking, tears overlapping the dried ones on down his temple. "Please, come to me, Frúar. _Please_."

"Hello? Anyone?"

Loki bawls his trembling hand into a fist before uncurling it, palms open once more, pointing towards the sky, saying with more force, "please, _come to me_ , Frúar."

"Prince Loki?"

He ignores the voice, as he kept repeating it, attempting to reach out for someone who's gone.

Nothing, he feels nothing. But he still calls for her, for Frúar.

"My prince? Is that you?"

"Come to me... Come to me, Frúar."

"It's... Oh my— Prince Loki— Stay with me, my prince! We'll be back to Asgard."

At first, he feels nothing. Then, he felt it.

A small fragment of hope.

"There you are... Come to me." 

* * *

"Malekith is going to fire the Aether at a spot where all the nine worlds are connected," Jane tells Erik.

"Amplifying the weapon's impact. With each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. The effect would be universal."

"Yes, but the alignment is only temporary. He must be in exactly at the right place at the right time," Thor tells him.

"Well, how do we know where that is?"

Erik suddenly gets up, "we follow the directions. This has happened before—" he then grabs a map of the British Isles and laid it on the table after pushing the rest to the ground. "Thousands of years ago, and The Ancients were there to see it. All the great constructions: the Mayas, the Chinese, the Egyptians, they made use of the gravitational effects of the Convergence. And they left us a map. Stonehenge..." With that, Erik proceeds to draw lines on the map, to find the connections. "Snowdon, the Great Orme. These are all coordinates taking us...here."

There, he points at Greenwich.

"The walls between the worlds will be almost non-existent. Physics is gonna go ballistic. Increase and decrease in gravity, spatial extrusions. The very fabric of reality is gonna be torn apart," Jane explains. Hearing enough, Thor summons Mjolnir. 

"Better get my pants..." 

* * *

"Focus, this is important! We have to hammer them all around the site and then Jane and Erik will activate them from the tower," Darcy tells Ian, the team now in the location in Greenwich, just outside of a library, as the latter grabs Erik's gadget.

"They're taped together!"

"Do you even know what these things do?"

"Uh, No."

"Neither do I." Nonetheless, the two placed the gadgets around the library. "Come on, come on!"

"Right!"

That's when all of a sudden, the water near the location were splashing big as if something enormous was in the water, people around screaming and running away. Then the ship of Malekith revealed itself, moving forward and crashing and destroying through the grounds.

"Holy...shit..." was all Darcy could say as she and Ian ran off.

Finally, the ship stopped right in the middle, where Malekith and his Dark Elves step off. To their left, they can see the effect of the opening Convergence, just as Thor makes his appearance known, landing a few feet away from the Dark Elves.

"You needn't have come so far, Asgardian. Death could've come to you soon, enough."

"Not by your hand."

"Your universe was never meant to be. Your world and your family will be _extinguished_." Upon finishing Malekith uses the power of the Aether, attempting to strike and hit Thor but the god manages to scarcely miss getting hit, though falling to the ground. As he gets up, Malekith tries again, Thor deflecting it with his hammer but the force still knocked him down. Getting up for the third time, now ready, he deflects another with his hammer once again, sending back only a little.

"You know, with all that power, I thought you would hit harder," Thor jabs, grinning just a little. And as Malekith attempts to summons the Aether's power at him, Thor spins and throws Mjolnir at him, pushing him way back, along with any poor Dark Elves nearby, the leader hitting a pillar and crashing right on a car. Before Malekith can get up, Thor calls for his hammer once more, coming to where the elf was and landed on another car, sending lightning to Malekith.

Meanwhile, Darcy gave Jane the okay sign just as Ian is finishing placing the final device on the ground, all the while the Convergence expanding more and more.

"The Convergence will be in full effect in seven minutes."

"That just means we have to keep Malekith busy for eight," Jane replies to Erik as she readies with the device in her hands. "Okay, you might wanna hold on to something." Turning on the device, the four watches as some of the dark elves suddenly disappear.

"That is awesome! How did you do that?" Darcy exclaims on the phone.

"Well, gravitational fields interact with the weak spot between worlds creating—"

"Oh, get the guy with a sword!"

But as Jane uses the device to get rid of that elf, she instead made Darcy and Ian disappear.

"Oops."

Darcy and Ian then emerge in another place. "Um, what the hell just happened?"

Just then, the dark elves that had disappeared appear once again, falling onto a car near them, Darcy telling Ian to move it as they begin to chase them. All the while, Thor and Malekith continue to fight against one another, Malekith shooting the aether at Thor but the god dodges down. Thor slams his hammer at Malekith, the dark elf then out of nowhere disappears; the Convergence and Jane's devices, Thor concludes, and right as Thor was ready to follow, Malekith returns, knocking Thor back. Thor strikes down Mjolnir down at Malekith but the dark elf blocks it with his arms, sending the god away towards the air, who then uses his momentum to move back down to him, pushing both of them back near the vortex. Instantly yet unexpectedly, they're no longer in London but back in Svartalfheim, the two falling and rolling down a mountain, but willing to fight mid-air only to be back in London still falling.

Thor landing a hit on Malekith before the movement around them gave them space as they kept falling, ready to hit the ground but once again back in Svartalfheim. Thor throws his hammer towards Malekith but much to his horror, it vanishes. Malekith shoots more of the Aether at Thor, sending him back. Right as Malekith slams his fist down Thor's head, the two are back at London, landing on a building, sliding down. Falling, Thor calls for Mjolnir but didn't have the chance to get there in time as the two once again are in another realm, Jotumheim this time, landing hard on the ground. Just as they were about to fight, they pause when they hear a growl, coming from a large beast, and right as it jumps at them, landing on the edge and breaking the ice and about to fall to their death, they're gone, as well as the beast.

"What are you doing?" Erik questions Jane as they ran.

"My signal's lost connection," she stops as Erik turns back, seeing more of the dark elves chasing them.

"Jane, Come on!"

Meanwhile, Darcy and Ian are still running from the dark elves that seem to grow more. As one of them shoots at them, resulting in them falling, the beast appeared out of nowhere, claiming one of the elves as its meal before moving on. Ian can see Darcy a bit in pain under the other side of the car. More dark elves show up, and right as Ian and Darcy get up, each of them was getting blasted by someone. One of the dark elves was ready to blast at Darcy when the said elf was stabbed in the back, the blade impaling through them.

"Wha..?"

"Oh, _shit_."

As the blade was pulled out, it was revealed the person responsible was the one and only Loki, holding his scepter, smiling kindly at the two of them, greeting them. Darcy and Ian couldn't do anything but gawk at the prince, couldn't seem to look away.

"Oh, wait, you're Thor's hot brother!"

"Oh!" Loki's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You know my brother? Does that mean you know where I can find that bastard Malekith?"

Just then the three were in another place, Jane and Erik next to them.

"Darcy?"

"Jane!"

"Ian!"

"Selvig!"

"Loki!"

"Jane!"

"And Frúar?"

The scepter's orb glows brightly right as Mjolnir passed them through the gaps between them.

"Mew Mew!"

"I have to follow it," Loki turns when Jane grabs his arm.

"Wait, Loki, how—Frúar—and you—" Jane gestures at the damaged clothes where he was impaled, can clearly see some blood and bandage.

"Long story, let's just say Father won't be pleased when he realized I ran off. We'll talk about it later." He gives her a smile before running off.

"Man," Darcy whistle. "He is a sight."

As Malekith stands alone in front of his ship, where he can see the realms aligning. Making his way to his ship, he begins to ready the Aether to form around him.

"Malekith!"

As he turns, he was greeted by a blade slashing across his face, from his right eye to his left jaw. Shouting in pain, he looks to see who it was.

"Miss me?" Loki leers at him, griping his scepter with both hands.

Malekith hesitated before reaching his hand out, causing Loki pause.

"Join me, Loki. This is where you belong, by my side."

Loki hums, tilting his pretty head. He's seen this before, then readied his stance. "You're delusional like all the others who wish to have me. The only way you'll have me, is when I'm dead."

Malekith curls his hand to a fist, the Aether swirls around them, leaving them alone.

"Then so be it."

Afar from where they were, Jane and Erik look up at the sky to see another realm.

"We're out of time."

Jane ignores Erik's calls for her as she runs off, the Aether ripping, destroying, and tearing everything around it, wrapping around the ship, all the way to the Convergence and into the realms. Thor rushes close to it, seeing the Aether swirl as civilians run away from it.

"Thor!" Jane calls out to him. "We're too late! Loki is in there."

" _Loki_?!" Thor whips his head back at her, flabbergasted. "How—"

"He didn't say."

"The Convergence is at its peak," Erik tells him.

Thor looks down at the devices he's holding.

"Can those things stop him?"

"Not from here."

"We can't get close enough," Jane adds.

"I can," Thor tells them as he takes Erik's device to heads to where Malekith and Loki would be.

As Thor gradually makes his way around the Aether, he sees the dark elf and Loki battling it out. It's hard to tell who's winning, Loki dodging one of Malekith's blows, slashing at his arm with... _Frúar_. Loki then proceeds to slash at Malekith's chest, marking an 'X', all the while the darkness going into Malekith.

"Malekith!"

His shout got both of their attention.

"Thor!"

"Darkness returns, Asgardian. Have you come to witness the end of your universe?"

"I've come to accept your surrender."

"Oh, I'm trying to, Thor but he's really not— _Oh_." Loki stops as Thor throws at one of Erik's device at Malekith, who caught it, ignoring the beeping.

Out of nowhere, the device and his right arm disappear. Looking up in shock, Malekith watches as Thor throws another one at him before he could do anything, piercing his left arm, and just like that, it disappears as well.

"You think you could stop this!? The Aether cannot be destroyed."

"But you can," Thor turns to his brother, grinning. "Loki, would you like to do the honor?"

"Brother...it would be my pleasure," Loki replied back, grinning back and readying Frúar.

Then the two sprints towards the dark elf. Thor then throws the last device at Malekith, right in the middle where the X is. Loki was close enough to raise Frúar's blade at his chest—

"X marks the spot, you monster."

—And the scepter blast the biggest energy blast Loki and Thor has ever seen, throwing not only Malekith back but as well as knocking Loki and Thor back. As Malekith is slammed against his ship, Jane uses her device one last time, bringing an end to the dark elf. Jane ran to where Thor and Loki should be. She spots them immediately, both lying close to one another, both lying face down, the scepter close by. Jane looks up to see some of the ship's parts falling off before the bottom of the part were collapsing. Jane's eyes widen as she makes her way to the brothers.

"Thor! Loki! No," she placed herself in between them, turning both of them face up and attempting to pull both of them up. "Come on, come on."

"Jane!"

She ignores Erik's call as she slowly drags them away. Seeing she didn't stand a chance, she braced herself, pulling both of their heads close to hers as she closes her eyes and prepares herself. She counted the seconds when she opens her eyes again, seeing the ship gone. Looking up, she sees Erik smiling as he puts her device down, looking back at her.

"Everybody okay?"

She looks back down at them, pressing both of her hands on each of their faces, Loki letting out a small soft groan, turning away and wincing, pulling his hand on his chest, and Thor opening his eyes as Jane lets her head rest on his chest, the Convergence ending as the realms closes. 

"You once said there would never be a wiser King than me. You were wrong. The alignment has brought all the realms together. Every one of them saw you offer your life to save them. What can Asgard offer its new King in return?"

"My life. Father, I cannot be King of Asgard. I will protect Asgard and all the realms with my last and every breath, but I cannot do so from that chair. Loki understood rule as I know I never will. The brutality, the sacrifice, it changes you, but he is capable, he can withstand that. I'd rather be a good man than a great King. If anyone should be king, it should be Loki."

"Loki never wants the throne. Tell me, is this my son I hear, or the woman he loves?"

"When you speak, do I never hear Mother's voice?" As Odin let a small smile, Thor continues. "This is not for Jane, Father. She does not know what I came here to say. Now forbid me to see her or say she can rule at my side, it changes nothing."

"One son who wants nothing to do with the throne, another who will not take it. Is this my legacy?"

"Loki and I shall try to live and fight and die with honor. Is that not legacy enough?"

Odin nods as Thor holds up Mjolnir to give it back to Odin. "It belongs to you if you are worthy of it."

"I shall try to be."

"I cannot give you my blessing, nor can I wish you good fortune."

"I know," Thor then turns to leave.

"If I were proud of the man my son had become, even that I could not say. It would speak only from my heart. Go, my son."

Thor smiles, "thank you, father. Oh, and have you seen Loki I need to have a word with him."

"He's in your mother's garden."

Bidding his goodbye, Thor walks off. Once he was gone, Odin's form vanishes, revealing to be Loki with a solemn expression. He lets out a tired sigh before laying back against the throne.

"Father...where did you _go_?"

It didn't take long before Thor finds Loki, who was sitting on a bench with Frúar in his hands.

"How are your wounds?"

"It's all right," Loki didn't turn back to look at him, idly lifting oned of his hand to rub at his chest, moving a little in the bench to give Thor space for him to sit. The two stayed silent for a while, Thor watching his brother slowly twirls and rubs the handle of the scepter.

"How?"

"I'm not sure myself, to be honest. And I'm not sure if she does as well. One moment, I felt nothing, and then, I felt a small glimmer of hope," they kept quiet once again before Loki continues, tracing his fingers around the scepter, "she's stronger now, well, even more stronger than she was before. It's very...peculiar."

"Do you know why?"

Loki pauses before his eyebrows furrowed a little upwards, squeezing his eyes and looking away from Thor, gripping Frúar a little tighter. Thor for the most part has always been patient with his brother, so he waits.

"Thor, I," Loki glances back, "I think mother knew."

The eldest fingers' twitches before curling into a fist. "What?"

"I think she knew that it was her time. I think she knew how this would have ended. I've noticed she hesitated when I told her about taking Frúar... I just feel it in my veins; she knew it was her time, but she knew maybe it wasn't Frúar's time. So, she must have done something, for Frúar to only be dead for just a little while. That's what I think but, but I don't know, I can't be so sure."

Thor takes all this in, inhaling deeply before exhaling through his mouth, his fingers now uncurling and now tapping on the bench. They stayed like that before Thor wraps his arm around his brother and pulling him close to him.

"I'm so sorry, Loki. I'm just so sorry, for everything."

Loki huffs out a laugh. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault."

"That does not mean I'm still not sorry."

"...I know," Loki falters before asking, "have you talk to father?"

"I have."

"What did he say?"

"He wants me to be king. I told him I don't want to be king. Let's leave it at that."

"...alright," Loki falters again before pulling away from Thor's embrace. "Go to her, Thor."

"But Loki..." He frowns, looking at his brother's chest, where he was impaled.

The younger prince rolls his eyes, "I'm fine Thor, you've stuck with me for the last two days," he then gives him an encouraging smile. "Go. She's waiting for you. You don't want to disappoint her, do you?"

Thor smiles back, letting out a small laugh. "No. No, I don't."

As Thor stands up, he pauses before resting his hand on the nape of Loki's neck. "Thank you, Loki. Then, the thunder god walks off.

Loki's smile slowly falls as he sees his brother gone before looking down at his scepter, his Frúar.

"Sometimes, I think he forgets that I am the God of Mischief," he let out another tired sigh before glancing up at the sky. "It's only a matter of time... So let's just hope that time is all we need."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after a gazillion years, I finally finished this, yaayyy!!!!! This was supposed to be posted two days ago, but I've been V E R Y sick so it pretty much slowed me down. Also, sorry for any errors.
> 
> Okay, so, to no one's surprise, I'm sure...I've been less motivated on writing the God of Beauty AU, like I'm sure you can tell when reading this chapter, which kind of sucks since this was the very first series I've done and I've really enjoyed writing this and I felt super bad for the people who were waiting for me to update a chapter, so for the past few days, I've rewatched the movie to refreshen my mind and pushed forward on writing this chapter. For those who are wondering as to why I put them into two chapters, I just kinda noticed that I could have basically finished TDW in two chapters so I was like "fuck it" and put the 1-6 chapters in the first one then finished the rest on this chapter.
> 
> I still want to continue on with this series, The Age of Ultron being the next part but honestly, I can't tell WHEN that's going to happen, considering my lack of motivation but I can promise that the series will continue, just not soon. Hopefully, I'll gain some motivation and inspiration back.  
> Anyways thanks for reading, and we'll see what's to come with this series.


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